The Pentagon said the United States would enforce a Trump-ordered lockdown of the South American country, even if it was “on the other side of the world.”
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Published February 9, 2026
The US military said it had seized a Venezuelan-linked vessel in the Indian Ocean, a move the US government said showed its determination to enforce an oil blockade against the South American country “on the other side of the world.”
The Pentagon said Monday that the seizure of the tanker was part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign to cut off Venezuelan oil exports, but critics denounced it as “theft” and an act of international piracy.
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The Pentagon said, “Aquila 2 was operating in violation of President Trump’s quarantine requirements for sanctioned ships in the Caribbean.The vessel continued on its way, and we followed it.”
It added that the US military had been tracking the ship from the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean.
The Pentagon shared footage of heavily armed U.S. soldiers storming the ship from helicopters and said that “no other nation on earth has the ability to enforce its will through any territory.”
“Whether on land, air or sea, our forces will find you and give you justice. You will run out of fuel long before you can overtake us.”
The Panamanian-flagged Aquila 2 left Venezuelan waters in early January carrying 700,000 barrels of crude oil, Reuters reported, citing records from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA.
The United States began seizing Venezuelan oil vessels in December and abducted the country’s President Nicolas Maduro last month.
Following threats of further attacks by the United States, Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, who previously served as President Maduro’s vice president, signed a law last month opening the largely state-run oil sector to foreign investment.
However, the US military continues to intercept and seize the country’s oil transport ships.
President Trump and his aides have been open about their plans to seize control of Venezuela’s oil, often falsely claiming that the South American nation’s oil reserves belong to the United States.
“One of the things the United States will get out of this is lower energy prices,” Trump told oil company executives at a White House meeting in January after Maduro’s abduction.
Since the former president was ousted, Venezuela has transferred tens of millions of barrels of oil to the United States as part of an energy deal.
Rodriguez said last month that his country received $300 million from oil sales to the United States. Later, multiple media outlets cited U.S. officials as saying that Caracas had received the entire $500 million oil payment.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Politico in an interview published Monday that he plans to visit Venezuela soon to “start a dialogue” with Caracas over the future leadership of state oil company PDVSA.
