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The United States executed a bold maritime operation on December 10, 2025, seizing the supertanker M/T Skipper as it sailed off the coast of Venezuela — a decisive move that should make every patriot proud to see American law and security enforced on the high seas. The Department of Justice has unsealed the seizure warrant and made clear this was not a random act of bravado but a lawful, intelligence-driven strike against a vessel tied to malign actors. This administration’s willingness to act where others have hesitated sends a clear message to dictators and terror-sponsors that American patience is not limitless.
Officials say the Skipper was no ordinary tanker; OFAC had already identified the vessel as part of an illicit oil-shipping network that funneled revenue to Hezbollah and the IRGC-Quds Force, organizations the United States rightly designates as terrorist. Reports indicate the ship was carrying roughly 1.8 million barrels of Venezuela’s heavy Merey crude — oil sold and shipped in ways that violated longstanding U.S. sanctions. Exposing and interrupting these dark networks is precisely the sort of targeted pressure that undermines hostile regimes and their terrorist patrons.
The operation was executed by a whole-of-government team: the U.S. Coast Guard, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, and other partners carried out the boarding after a magistrate judge signed a warrant on November 26. Lawful tools were used — forfeiture statutes and anti-terror statutes — and the warrant was unsealed only after the operation, reflecting careful coordination rather than reckless adventurism. This is how a nation protects its citizens and neutralizes funding streams for violence: relentless, lawful pressure that hits bad actors where they think they are safe.
Conservative Americans should applaud the Trump administration and the Justice Department for enforcing sanctions instead of pretending they don’t exist, as previous administrations too often did. While the Left wrings its hands about diplomacy, real leadership clamps down on the funds that keep tyrants and terrorists afloat. Cutting off Venezuela’s illicit lifelines to Iran and Hezbollah is not only smart policy; it is moral policy, defending innocent lives from regimes that bankroll brutality.
The vessel is being routed toward U.S. ports and officials say the United States intends to seize the oil after following the required legal process, with the cargo expected to be offloaded offshore and transferred to smaller ships. If Washington follows through, there is a powerful opportunity to convert an act of enforcement into an immediate public benefit — using assets seized from enemies of freedom to help stabilize energy markets and ease costs for hardworking Americans. That would be tough-minded governance in the service of everyday families rather than globalist handwringing.
At the same time, the timing of this pressure campaign coincides with the daring escape of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado to Norway, where she accepted a Nobel accolade in absentia after confirming she received U.S. support to get out of Venezuela. Free nations helping freedom fighters is not interference — it is solidarity with those who risk everything to throw off brutal regimes. Conservatives should celebrate that America still stands for liberty and will back people who choose courage over cowardice.
This seizure should be the beginning, not the end, of a focused strategy to choke off the corrupt money pipelines that prop up Maduro, Tehran, and their enablers. Keep the pressure on, keep enforcing the law, and keep using American power — both legal and military when necessary — to defend freedom and protect our homeland. If Washington is serious about beating terrorism and defending energy security, this moment must be followed by more action, not apologies.
