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The United States Coast Guard has reportedly intercepted and seized a second oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, a bold enforcement action that underscores Washington’s determination to choke off illicit revenue streams flowing to the Maduro regime. This operation, described by U.S. officials as targeting a shadow fleet used to evade sanctions, is the latest in a rising campaign to enforce America’s sanctions and protect our national security interests.
President Trump’s administration has made no secret of its posture: a “total and complete” blockade on sanctioned tankers and an aggressive campaign to deny narco-terror networks their funding. That posture is the kind of decisive leadership our country needs when hostile regimes and criminal cartels try to game the world’s shipping lanes and bankroll terrorism.
Officials say the boarded vessel was operating under false identities and was carrying millions of barrels of Venezuelan crude — cargo the administration connects to money laundering and proxies for terrorist organizations and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Taking the fight to the sea and imposing costs on those who enable Maduro’s kleptocracy is not only lawful under recent seizure warrants but smart strategy to dry up the regime’s lifelines.
Predictably, Caracas and its allies screamed “piracy” and demanded international hand-wringing, while left-leaning outlets rushed to equivocate about legal authority and American intent. Let them protest; the alternative is to stand idly by while corrupt regimes trade our security for quick cash, and that is not an option for a sovereign nation that values law and order.
This operation involved coordinated Coast Guard and Navy assets and demonstrates that when America decides to act, it can project power precisely and effectively. The critics who bleat about escalation ignore the reality that carved-out safe havens for smuggling and terror funding threaten our borders and citizens; enforcing sanctions and seizing illicit cargo is patriotism, not provocation.
Hardworking Americans should applaud leaders who put national security first and hold bad actors accountable, not appease them. Congress and the administration must stay united, give our service members the tools they need, and never apologize for defending American interests against kleptocrats and terror enablers abroad.
