WASHINGTON

The Trump administration intends to seize oil from a tanker that it captured off the coast of Venezuela, the White House said Thursday as tensions with Caracas reach fever pitch.

Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt defended the US action, saying the tanker was a "sanctioned shadow vessel" that was "known for carrying black market sanctioned oil" to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"The president is committed to stopping the illegal flow of drugs into our country. He's also fully committed to effectuating this administration's sanction policy. And that's what you saw, and the world saw take place yesterday," she said.

Investigators are currently on the vessel, and individuals who were on board at the time it was interdicted "are being interviewed, and any relevant evidence is being seized."

The vessel is being taken to a US port, and the Trump administration intends to enter into legal proceedings to formally seize the cargo.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday that the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agency, and the US Coast Guard, with support from the Defense Department, executed a seizure warrant for the tanker, which is alleged to have been used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said in a statement Wednesday that his country "strongly condemns what constitutes a blatant act of theft and international piracy, publicly announced by the president of the United States.”

He said it was not the first such incident and accused the Trump administration of pursuing a deliberate plan to seize Venezuela’s energy resources, noting that Trump “openly stated during his 2024 campaign that his goal had always been to take Venezuela’s oil without paying anything in return.”

The move is all but certain to further ratchet up tensions with Caracas as Trump continues to demand Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro step down from power, maintaining that all options, including military force, remain on the table amid a massive force buildup in the region.

The US has already carried out 22 known strikes on alleged "narco-terrorist" seaborne vessels, killing 87 people since the attacks began in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean in early September.