Six more ships added to list amid oil seizure
One ship for each of these companies was also sanctioned, opening the possibility of the ships in question being seized by US forces. Leavitt noted that it is possible to have more seizures.
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“We will not stand by and watch sanctioned ships sail the seas carrying black market oil, the revenues of which will fuel the narco-terrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world,” he said.
The United States plans to intercept additional ships in the coming weeks, Reuters reported, citing six sources familiar with the matter.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and its economy is based on production of approximately one million barrels of oil per day. But it is shut out of global oil markets by US sanctions and sells most of its production to Chinese refiners through a complex network of shady middlemen, many of them front companies.
The seizure of the tanker follows more than 20 deadly US strikes against suspected drug ships in the Caribbean and Pacific that the US military says are transporting drugs on behalf of Venezuelan gangs.
US President Donald Trump was vague about his future actions on Thursday, saying “there are other things going on” but refraining from saying what they were.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at a rally in Caracas on Wednesday. Credit: access point
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto called the seizure “a blatant act of robbery and international piracy made public by the president of the United States.”
Venezuela, Russia and Iran often use shadow fleet tankers, transit shipping and third-party countries to export oil in an environment of crippling U.S. and global sanctions. Trump said Thursday that the Skipper was the largest ship ever seized.
In the Kremlin statement, it was stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Maduro on the phone on Thursday, expressing his solidarity with the Venezuelan people and confirming his support for Maduro’s policies “aimed at protecting national interests and sovereignty in the face of increasing external pressure.”
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The two countries signed a Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement last month. Leavitt said he would not be impressed by Trump’s Putin-Maduro call.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Opposition Leader María Corina Machado said on Thursday that “decisive” actions by the United States, including the seizure of the oil tanker, had left Maduro’s repressive government at its weakest point.
He spoke after his first public appearance in nearly a year following his arrival in the Norwegian capital Oslo, where his daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on his behalf on Wednesday.
Machado said Trump’s action “was decisive in getting us to where we are now, where the regime is significantly weaker.” “Because before the regime thought it was immune from punishment… Now they’re starting to understand that this is serious and the world is watching.”
Machado vowed to return to the country to continue the fight for democracy but sidestepped questions about whether U.S. military intervention was necessary to remove Maduro from power.
AP via Reuters
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