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The United States this week carried out a bold, surgical operation to seize a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a direct action that President Trump announced publicly and described bluntly when asked what would happen to the cargo: “We keep the oil, I guess.” This was no theatre — the seized vessel, reported to be the VLCC Skipper, had been under long-standing scrutiny for its role in sanctions-evasion and illicit shipments. Americans should be grateful for leadership that finally matches words with decisive action to defend our interests abroad.
The boarding was executed by U.S. law enforcement and maritime forces in a carefully planned helicopter insertion, with Coast Guard teams fast-roping onto the deck from aircraft launched from the carrier presence in the Caribbean. Officials say the operation involved the Coast Guard, FBI, and Homeland Security in coordination with Navy assets, and it was carried out without loss of life or a firefight — evidence that precision and professionalism still define American power. This wasn’t an impulsive stunt; it was a lawful interdiction aimed at networks that have long abused the high seas.
Long before this seizure, the vessel had been sanctioned for its role in a shadowy oil-smuggling network that tied Venezuelan crude flows to Iranian interests and militant proxies, making it a legitimate target under U.S. law. Reports show the tanker had recent ties to former identities and ship-to-ship transfers designed to conceal cargo origins, the very tricks smugglers use to bankroll bad actors. If you’ve wondered why the administration calls Venezuela a security threat rather than a humanitarian case study, follow the money and the barrels.
Predictably, the Maduro regime and its apologists screamed “piracy” and theft, while many in the international left rushed to defend a dictatorship that has bled the Venezuelan people dry. Caracas labeled the operation an act of “blatant theft,” and the predictable chorus of outrage from anti-American corners followed — but outrage doesn’t erase culpability or nullify the need to choke off illicit revenue streams. Washington’s duty is to protect American security and to deny murderous regimes the funds they use to prop themselves up and to export chaos.
Yes, some lawmakers and pundits warned the seizure risks escalation, but cowards who reflexively fear confrontation have no strategy for victory — only a recipe for more concessions and emboldened enemies. The real mistake would be to retreat every time the left and the globalists wring their hands while tyrants plot and prosper. Congress should debate policy, but it should not hamstring commanders who are lawfully and effectively striking at the criminal networks that fuel regimes hostile to the United States.
This interdiction also looks like the opening move in a broader campaign to tighten the noose on Maduro’s oil lifeline, and officials say further maritime interdictions are being scoped out as a deliberate pressure strategy. If the administration is indeed moving toward a maritime chokehold on illicit shipments, that is exactly the kind of targeted economic leverage that can hasten the collapse of kleptocratic regimes without large-scale ground commitments. Keep the pressure on; make it costly for anyone who traffics in sanctioned oil and supports terrorism.
Patriots should demand that Washington turn this tactical success into strategic advantage: secure the oil proceeds, cut off red regimes from dollar lifelines, and back Venezuelan democrats who want their country back. Democrats and media elites will howl about norms while offering no compelling alternative to soft appeasement; hardworking Americans know the difference between strategic firmness and cowardice. Stand with leaders who act to protect our sovereignty, our energy security, and the cause of liberty in the Americas.
