This second tanker is not on a list of vessels sanctioned by the U.S., a source said.
Venezuela’s minister of the interior, Diosdado Cabello, condemned the operation in a Saturday post on Instagram.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting Venezuelan oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew, committed by military personnel of the United States of America in international waters,” Cabello said.
Saturday’s operation comes after the U.S. interdicted a large, sanctioned oil tanker known as the Skipper off the coast of Venezuela last week. The ship, previously identified by the Treasury Department as the Adisa, is an oil tanker tied to a sanctions-evading smuggling network that U.S. officials say moved Iranian oil to generate revenue for Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.



This is not piracy! It is privateering.