The US seized an oil tanker that recently departed Venezuela, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
This is the second time this month that the US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of the country.
The move comes after US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was ordering a “blockade” of oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
Venezuela has yet to respond to the latest US takeover but has previously accused Washington of trying to steal its oil resources.
The operation, similar to one earlier this month, was led by the U.S. Coast Guard. The ship was boarded by a specialized tactical team and was in international waters at the time of the capture.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, shared a video of the operation on X.
“Early on the morning of December 20, before dawn, the US Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, seized an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela,” Noem wrote.
She posted a seven-minute video of the operation, which showed American helicopters landing on the deck of a ship with the words Centuries on the side.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illegal movement of sanctioned oil that is used to finance narco-terrorism in the region,” Noem wrote, adding: “We will find you and stop you.”
The Centuries is flagged in Panama but has also sailed under the flags of Greece and Liberia in the past five years, according to records seen by BBC Verify.
It is not on the list of vessels sanctioned by the US Treasury Department.
The US has been increasing its military presence in the Caribbean in recent weeks and carried out deadly strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessels, killing about 100 people.
The U.S. has provided no public evidence that the ships were carrying drugs, and the military has come under increasing scrutiny from Congress over the strikes.
The United States has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading a designated terrorist organization called the Cartel de los Soles, which he denies.
The Trump administration accuses him and the group of using “stolen” oil to “finance themselves, narco-terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”
Following the seizure of the second ship, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X that the US would continue to “relentlessly conduct maritime interdiction operations…to dismantle illicit criminal networks.”
“Violence, drugs and chaos cannot control the Western Hemisphere.”
Venezuela, which is home to the world's largest proven oil reserves, is heavily dependent on revenue from oil exports to finance its government spending.
Trump's “blockade” announcement came less than a week after the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, allegedly part of a “ghost fleet” that allegedly used various strategies to hide its work.
The White House said the vessel in question, called Skipper, was involved in “illegal oil transportation” and would be brought to a US port.
The Venezuelan government condemned the move, with Maduro saying The US “kidnapped the crew” and “hijacked” the ship.
