Trump Escalates Drama With Venezuelan President After He Seizes an Oil Tanker — Why Did He Do It?

People are asking "why" after President Donald Trump seized a Venezuelan oil tanker on Dec. 10, 2025. The president announced that U.S. forces seized the oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, according to a video from the White House. Trump has been threatening Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for months and has accused him of being the leader of a drug cartel, per CNN, and he's also said the U.S. would remove Maduro from power. "His days are numbered," said Trump.

"As you probably know, we've just, uh, seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela," he said. "Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually. And, uh, other things are happening. So, you'll be seeing that later, and you'll be talking about that later with some other people." So, why'd the president do it?

According to CNBC, the oil tanker seized by Trump is called the "Skipper," a Guyana-flagged VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier). The tanker was reportedly loaded with 1.1 million barrels of oil. Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that the FBI served a seizure warrant for the Venezuelan oil tanker with the Homeland Security Department’s investigations unit and the U.S. Coast Guard. The Pentagon also provided support, and Bondi shared video of the seizure on X.

Bondi claimed that the tanker was seized due to an "illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations."

"Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran," she wrote.

"For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations," she added. "This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely — and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues."

During an interview with Politico on Dec. 8, Trump claimed that Venezuela trafficked drugs into the United States.

"They do send lots of drugs," he said, after Dasha Burns noted that most of the fentanyl trafficked to the U.S. comes from Mexico, not Venezuela. "Those boats come in largely from Venezuela so I would say that’s a significant ... and you can see the drugs. You can see these bags all over the boat, I mean, just bags and bags and bags."

He also alleged that the country sends their murderes to the country.

"They send really, really bad people into our country, and they’ve done it better than anybody else," he claimed. "They emptied their prisons into our country, and these prisoners are seriously tough. They entered, uh, all of their prisons have been emptied into the United States of America. Murderers, 11,888 murderers."

Maduro claims that Trump's true motive for seizing the tanker was to poach Venezuela's natural resources, per The Guardian.

“It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people," he said.