President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela, announced in X posts shared between 11:45 PM UTC on December 16 and 12:15 AM UTC on December 17, 2025, according to accounts including @FaytuksNetwork and @SA_Defensa. The announcement, quoted by @FaytuksNetwork as "Trump orders a blockade of 'all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela,'" marks a major escalation, with @SA_Defensa stating it will likely be enforced by more tanker seizures for violations. @Osinttechnical reposted the quote amid references to oil, hostile regime, terrorism, and WMDs. This development occurs during U.S. Southern Command's Operation Southern Spear targeting regional drug trafficking, following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's rejection earlier on December 16 of calls to release video from a September boat strike on narcoterrorists, as reported in prior updates.
