Sky News reports that U.S. authorities have seized another oil tanker linked to Venezuela, a move that has drawn sharp international criticism and warnings that Washington’s escalating actions could trigger a humanitarian crisis.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva cautioned against any military escalation, saying an armed intervention in Venezuela would amount to a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
Speaking during a Mercosur summit, Lula warned that South America was once again facing the presence of an external military power, referencing the 1982 Falklands War between Britain and Argentina.
Such intervention, he said, would set a “dangerous precedent for the world.”
The seizure was confirmed by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who announced the operation on social media.
Sky News reports that U.S. authorities have seized another oil tanker linked to Venezuela, a move that has drawn sharp international criticism and warnings that Washington’s escalating actions could trigger a humanitarian crisis.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva cautioned against any military escalation, saying an armed intervention in Venezuela would amount to a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
Speaking during a Mercosur summit, Lula warned that South America was once again facing the presence of an external military power, referencing the 1982 Falklands War between Britain and Argentina.
Such intervention, he said, would set a “dangerous precedent for the world.”
The seizure was confirmed by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who announced the operation on social media.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region.
“We will find you, and we will stop you,” she wrote on X. Video shared alongside the post showed a helicopter touching down on the tanker’s deck moments before U.S. forces boarded the vessel.
Maritime risk firm Vanguard identified the ship as the Panama-flagged Centuries. The tanker was intercepted east of Barbados in the Caribbean after recently being tracked near Venezuela’s coastline.
A U.S. official, speaking anonymously, described the operation as a “consented boarding,” saying the ship had voluntarily stopped to allow American personnel aboard.
The operation was led by the Coast Guard, with helicopter support provided by the U.S. military.
The Centuries was bound for China carrying approximately 1.8 million barrels of oil that had been loaded in Venezuela under the false name Crag, according to Reuters, citing internal documents from Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA.
Data from TankerTrackers.com shows the vessel departed Venezuelan waters on Wednesday and was briefly escorted by the Venezuelan navy.
Unlike a tanker seized last week, the Centuries itself is not currently sanctioned by the United States. Jeremy Paner, a partner at Hughes Hubbard law firm and former investigator with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said the move marked a significant escalation.
“The seizure of a vessel that is not sanctioned by the US marks a further increase in Trump’s pressure on Venezuela,” Paner said. “It also runs counter to Trump’s statement that the US would impose a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers.”
Caracas condemned the interception, accusing Washington of piracy.
In a statement, the Venezuelan government said it “denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew, committed by military personnel of the United States of America in international waters.”
The latest seizure follows an earlier operation targeting a tanker known as the Skipper and comes amid a broader U.S. military buildup around Venezuela that has effectively placed the country under embargo.
President Donald Trump underscored the scale of the deployment earlier this week, declaring, “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.”
He added, “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
In the same statement, Trump labelled the government of President Nicolás Maduro “illegitimate” and a “foreign terrorist organisation,” announcing: “Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
Since the seizure of the Skipper, multiple tankers carrying millions of barrels of oil have remained anchored in Venezuelan waters, amid concerns they could be intercepted next.
Many of these vessels are believed to be part of a so-called “shadow fleet” — ships that obscure their identities and movements to transport oil for sanctioned states such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
According to TankerTrackers.com, more than 70 oil tankers currently in Venezuelan waters fall into this category, with at least 38 already sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury.
THE THIRD FORCE
