The United States took decisive action on December 10, 2025, when federal agents seized the oil tanker M/T Skipper in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela, a vessel the Justice Department says was embedded in an illicit oil network that funded terrorist groups. This was not a random maritime incident but a targeted enforcement of sanctions aimed at choking off cash flows to Iran’s Quds Force and Hezbollah. The Attorney General and federal prosecutors unsealed the seizure warrant to show Americans that law and order still mean something when our national security is at stake.
The Skipper, formerly flagged under other names, reportedly departed Venezuela’s José terminal after loading roughly 1.8 million barrels of Merey crude and was intercepted on the high seas before making further transfers. U.S. sources say the supertanker is now en route to Houston where the cargo will be processed under the court’s forfeiture procedures, underscoring that sanctions have teeth when enforced with resolve. This operation follows careful tracking and intelligence, not improvisation, and it shows that American law enforcement can act beyond mere Twitter accusations.
Treasury’s OFAC had already blacklisted the Skipper back in 2022 for its role in an oil trafficking shadow fleet tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanese Hezbollah, a fact the Justice Department laid out in its recent announcement. This is part of a broader, multiyear crackdown by the DOJ, Treasury, and allied agencies to dismantle billion-dollar schemes that fund terrorism and undermine global stability. When sanctions are abused as feel-good statements by weak leaders, real men and women in law enforcement pick up the work and deliver results.
The seizure was executed by the Coast Guard with crucial support from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and naval assets in the area, accompanied by dramatic footage of personnel fast-roping onto the deck from helicopters. That image — American forces enforcing American law on the high seas — should make every patriot proud and every dictator nervous. It also shatters the narrative pushed by appeasers who believe soft words and sanctions press releases are a substitute for action.
Predictably, Nicolás Maduro’s regime cried “piracy” and appealed to international outrage, but let’s be honest: the world has no obligation to finance tyrants and their foreign patrons. Caracas’s theatrical denunciations are a smokescreen for the fact that its oil is routinely trafficked through covert networks to benefit the regime and its backers. When lawless actors cloak criminality in the language of sovereignty, the United States has every right — and duty — to follow the money and cut it off.
All of this unfolded as Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado made a daring escape to Norway to accept an international award, a dramatic reminder that brave people still risk everything for freedom. Machado’s flight from Maduro’s repression and her appearance in Oslo put a human face on why the international community must pressure the regime — because millions of Venezuelans are suffering while corrupt elites sell off the nation’s patrimony. The seizure of the Skipper and Machado’s escape are pieces of the same story: pressure works, and cowardice costs lives.
Patriots should applaud a government that enforces its laws and denies terror networks easy laundries of cash, rather than shame it for showing strength. If the Biden-era appeasements and soft-on-tyranny elites had their way, dirty oil would keep flowing and America’s national security would be weakened. This administration’s willingness to act — and Congress’s duty to back real enforcement and smart sanctions — are the only way to protect our interests and support freedom-loving Venezuelans.
Washington must now follow through: prosecute where warranted, secure the forfeited resources, and use every lawful tool to keep Maduro and his sponsors from rebuilding their war chests. The American people deserve a foreign policy that defends liberty, punishes malign actors, and stands with those who risk everything for freedom, not one that apologizes to dictators and looks the other way.
