Die USA verbieten die Beschlagnahme eines Schiffes vor der Küste Venezuelas, sagen Beamte

**TL;DR:**

The United States is seizing a sanctioned oil tanker in international waters off Venezuela, led by the U.S. Coast Guard as part of a wider regional military buildup. This is the second such tanker seizure in recent weeks and follows President Donald Trump’s order for a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. The moves have effectively created an embargo, sharply reducing Venezuelan crude exports as many loaded tankers now remain in local waters to avoid confiscation. Analysts say that if this continues, the loss of up to nearly a million barrels per day of crude could eventually push global oil prices higher, even though the market is currently well supplied. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accuses Washington of using military pressure and strikes near Venezuela as part of a campaign to overthrow him and seize control of the country’s vast oil reserves.

Maritime law is wild, but pretty much any country has the legal “right” to board a vessel in international waters if the vessel is not flying a flag or is operating under a fictitious registration.

The USCG has law endorcement authority and these seizures appear to be pursuant to US court orders. We were doing this before the current administration as well. So there’s nothing particularly notable here.

It would be bigly different if these vessels were legally registered. But basically if your boat is not properly flagged then you have no country to back you up on international waters.

A sanctioned oil tanker… So a tanker that may be seized by anyone? And the US is just doing it because they’re in the correct location with documentation confirming it’s stateless?

Either people in general or the news in specific seems to forget that the seizing of sanctioned oil tankers (or any sanctioned vessel) is legal by ANY country that finds them, such as is defined in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which grants exclusive jurisdiction to the „flag state“ for seizures. In these cases, the US usually asks the „flag state“ (under which the boat is flying its flag) if they are aware of the boat and can ascertain its contents/destinations. If the country cannot prove it (or is caught with its hand in the cookie jar, so to speak, and thus denies any relation), then *any* country can seize the boat, as it’s considered a „stateless vessel“ and can be seized.

Most countries don’t bother because it affects the complex web of geopolitical relations that exist and can result in unexpected backlashes and/or create unnecessary enemies. That said, if there’s one thing the cheetoh-in-chief does in spades, it’s make unnecessary enemies.

Must be something with oil, or Hegseth and Trump would have just murdered them.

At least it’s a mild improvement over summary execution

Still piracy, though.

Thou Shalt Not Steal. It’s in the Bible.

Ship gets sanctioned for violating sanctions, ship flies false flag, ship gets siezed…