Pressure on Maduro grows after US seizes ‘dark fleet’ tanker off Venezuela
DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE on Nicolás Maduro has grown after the US interdicted a “dark fleet” tanker off the coast of Venezuela in a move that has been interpreted as an escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure on the South American President.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, on Thursday said that the US would take the seized oil tanker, the Skipper, to a US port one day after military and law enforcement boarded it off the coast of Venezuela.
“The vessel will go to a U.S. port, and the United States does intend to seize the oil,” Leavitt said during a briefing. “However, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil, and that legal process will be followed.”
Donald Trump had earlier told reporters that the US planned to “keep” the oil on board the tanker”.
Asked whether she viewed the seizure as an escalation of US pressure against Maduro, she said: “I think the president considers the seizure of the oil tanker as effectuating the administration’s sanctions policies”.
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