Trump Orders Total Blockade of Sanctioned Venezuelan Oil Tankers

Updated: December 22, 2025 (Originally published December 16, 2025)

President Donald Trump announced a complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela on Tuesday, declaring the Maduro regime a “foreign terrorist organization” and demanding the return of what he called stolen U.S. oil assets.

The move follows the U.S. seizure of the tanker Skipper last week—the first interdiction of a Venezuelan oil cargo since the U.S. first implemented the sanctions in 2019—and comes as Washington assembles what Trump described as “the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America” around the country.

“Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” President Trump posted.

The blockade targets Venezuela’s sprawling “dark fleet” of nearly 400 active tankers that transport sanctioned crude to China and other buyers, according to TankerTrackers.com. Only 40% of these vessels are currently under U.S. sanctions, the company said Tuesday after President Trump’s announcement.

“America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY,” President Trump’s statement added.

The Skipper, previously sanctioned for oil trading with Iran, is expected to sail to a U.S. port where its cargo will be seized through formal legal proceedings. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned six additional supertankers on Thursday that recently loaded crude in Venezuela.

The announcement raises serious legal issues under international law.

President Trump has overseen a growing U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean in recent months, deploying additional naval and Coast Guard assets to waters near Venezuela as part of expanded counter-narcotics operations.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said last that the administration would continue enforcing sanctions policies. “We’re not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world,” she said.

A sustained reduction in Venezuelan oil exports—the primary revenue source for Maduro’s government—would strain the regime’s finances at a time when Trump is pushing for his ouster.

The action marks a sharp escalation in U.S. maritime enforcement, following more than 20 strikes on suspected drug vessels in recent months that killed over 80 people. Maduro has alleged the military buildup aims to overthrow his government and seize Venezuelan oil resources.

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