HN Reader

This ship is a known blockade runner. "The ship has frequently carried oil from countries under U.S. sanctions, and its tracking data shows multiple recent trips to Iran and Venezuela"

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/politics/oil-tanker-ve...

Under what authority???

Hello, I am from overseas. Can someone please explain to me why would they do that? What is the goal, what is the plan, what is the intent? Thanks for any comments, I am utterly confused.

>a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually -DJT

Spoiler alert: It wasn't

Trump tanker DWT: 310309

Sirius Star DWT: 318000

Interesting that I read elsewhere that most Venezuelan oil goes to China due to the sanctions. Would be nice to see them put a carrier group down there to guard their shipments...

Imagine the outrage if the title were instead "China seizes Philippine oil tanker in South China Sea"

> In July, the Trump administration walked back a February move to cut off U.S. oil giant Chevron from doing business in Venezuela.

"It's OK when it's our guy."

Give the Mr. "New New Wars" another "peace prize"...

Can someone explain why US sanctions on Iranian oil would have any relevance to Venezuela? And why the US would have any right to enforce those sanctions by seizing some other countries tanker? Or is this the US just doing what it wants because nobody will tell it otherwise?

Imagine saying vile things about Somalians for weeks and then turning into an actual Somalian pirate (EDIT: a small fraction of Somalians). What a farce.

"The move came just hours after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado left the country on a boat, an escape that potentially gave the Trump administration an opening to take more aggressive action against the Maduro regime" [1].

[1] https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/u-s-seizes-oil-tanker-off...