WATCH: Tense Footage Shows US Forces Seizing Oil Tanker Near Venezuela

(Screengrab via X)

Dramatic footage released by the Trump administration shows the tense moment U.S. forces boarded and seized a sanctioned oil tanker in choppy waters off the coast of Venezuela.

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted the video on Wednesday night, describing it as a “crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”

Bondi added that “for multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”

The Department of Homeland Security also shared the clip, declaring: “KNOCKOUT. If you threaten our nation, or break the law, there is no place on land or sea where we won’t find you.”

In response, Venezuela called the seizure an “act of piracy.”

Two U.S. officials told Reuters the operation was carried out by the Coast Guard, though they offered no details about the ship itself.

The seizure is expected to rattle Venezuela’s already strained oil trade, most of which is routed to China. Oil prices ticked upward following the operation.

President Donald Trump, speaking earlier in the day, said: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela. Largest one ever seized, actually. And other things are happening.”

Pressed on the fate of the vessel, he quipped: “We keep it, I guess.”

Watch above via X.

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