United States seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast as tensions flare between Donald Trump and Nicolás Maduro

"We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually," the president told journalists during a White House gathering with business executives.

While scant on further details, the US leader added: "It was seized for a very good reason."

Asked what he would do with the oil aboard the tanker, President Trump responded: "Well, we keep it, I guess."

"I assume we're going to keep the oil," he later added.

The US Coast Guard spearheaded the operation with backing from the Navy, according to officials speaking anonymously to Reuters.

It comes as Washington has assembled its largest military presence in the region for decades, conducting a series of fatal strikes against vessels allegedly transporting narcotics through Caribbean and eastern Pacific waters.

Just one day prior, US military aircraft conducted a flyover of the Gulf of Venezuela, marking what appeared to be the closest approach of American warplanes to Venezuelan airspace since the pressure campaign commenced.

President Trump has demanded that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro step down from power.

The South American leader faces narcoterrorism charges in the United States, accusations he has consistently denied.

Venezuela possesses the world's largest proven oil reserves, producing approximately one million barrels daily.

However, American sanctions have effectively barred the country from global oil markets.

The state oil company consequently sells most of its output at significant discounts to Chinese refiners, often through complex networks of secretive intermediaries and shell companies.

So-called "ghost tankers" frequently conceal their positions and transfer cargo mid-ocean to avoid detection.

In previous negotiations, Washington granted permission for Chevron to resume Venezuelan oil operations, a concession that provided crucial financial support to Maduro's administration.

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