US seizes another tanker off Venezuela - as Brazil issues warning

The US has been warned against risking a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Venezuela after it seized another tanker.

Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the operation on X, saying the oil tanker had last docked in Venezuela. She posted: "The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region.

We will find you, and we will stop you." In footage shared by Ms Noem of the raid, a helicopter can be seen landing on the deck of the ship ahead of the seizure. The vessel is believed to be the Panama-flagged Centuries, according to the maritime risk management company Vanguard.

The oil tanker, which was recently spotted near the Venezuelan coast, was seized east of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the raid was a "consented boarding," with the tanker stopping voluntarily to allowing American forces aboard.

It's understood that the operation was led by the Coast Guard with the US military providing helicopter support. The US has already seized a sanctioned oil tanker, called Skipper, off the coast of Venezuela last week.

But Centuries has not been sanctioned by the US, according to Jeremy Paner, a partner at Hughes Hubbard law firm in Washington DC, and former investigator at the Office of Foreign Assets Control. "The seizure of ‌a vessel that is not sanctioned by the US marks a further increase in Trump's pressure on Venezuela," he said.

"It also runs counter to Trump's statement that the US would impose a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers." President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of neighbouring Brazil has since cautioned the US against an "armed intervention" in Venezuela. During a summit of the South American Mercosur bloc, he said: "Armed intervention in Venezuela would be a ⁠humanitarian catastrophe." He also referred to the 1982 Falklands War between Britain and Argentina, and said "the South ⁠American continent is once again haunted by ‌the military presence of an extra-regional power".

If the US did intervene, he said, it would set a "dangerous precedent for the world". In recent weeks there has been a steady build up of US forces in the region, effectively placing Venezuela under embargo.

"Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America," US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. "It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before." In his post on social media, the president also branded the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as "illegitimate" and a "foreign terrorist organisation".

He continued: "Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela." ???? Follow Trump100 on your podcast app ???? Since the Skipper was seized, vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil have been staying put in Venezuelan waters, fearing that the US will intercept them. Some of these are considered to be part of a "shadow fleet" - vessels that use concealing tactics to transport goods for sanctioned countries like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.

More than 70 oil tankers in Venezuelan waters this week are part of the so-called shadow fleet, with some 38 sanctioned by the US Treasury, according to data from TankerTrackers.com. Read more:US says eight 'narco-terrorists' killed in three boat strikesMaduro's 'narco nephews' hit with sanctions President Trump has been ramping up pressure on the Maduro regime, accusing it of involvement in the drugs trade.

As part of his efforts, he has also authorised deadly strikes against vessels he claims are trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. President Maduro claims Mr Trump is trying to overthrow him with a view to seizing Venezuela's oil reserves..