The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Coast Guard led the seizure of the tanker, with support from the Navy.

Asked if he wanted to see President Nicolás Maduro out of office, Trump told Politico, “His days are numbered.”

Trump confirmed last month that he had spoken with Maduro, though he did not detail their conversation.

The U.S. government has amassed a massive military presence in the U.S. Southern Command area, sending warships, Marines, fighter jets, spy planes and other assets, arguing the buildup is necessary to halt the smuggling of narcotics and defend the U.S.

The administration has in recent months been carrying out military strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, striking more than 20 vessels and killing dozens of people in the process whom the administration has labeled “narco-terrorists.” Those strikes have come under intense scrutiny from lawmakers in both parties

>>1464192
Too late >>1464179 got there first.

>>1464196
Can you not read dates?
Your thread is shit.

Who cares he's just stopping for drug dealers. Tanker was probably loaded full of drugs.

>>1464221
>Asked what would happen to the oil on the tanker, Trump said, “I assume we’re going to keep the oil.”

>>1464221
This sounds a lot like the beginning of a war

>>1464225
>>1464222
What's sad is this is what the far right conservatives are going to claim now. Also yes, trump is clearly trying to start a war to create the 'We're in a war, you can't question anything I'm doing' mindset that George W Bush did.

>>1464221
>Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC): Term used to describe ocean-going tanker hauling from 1.5 million to 2.5 million barrels of product.
That would be a preposterous amount of drugs. It's probably oil. Pam Bondi already tweeted that it's sanctioned oil anyway.

>>1464221
Their logic is apparently "It had its transponder off which is suspect". You may recognize this as making zero fucking sense considering this was a boat heading to Cuba and literally hundreds of miles away from any US border, but recognize we need some bullshit justification for the bots.

>>1464230
>Pam Bondi already tweeted that it's sanctioned oil anyway.
I'm so fucking curious how this works legally, or at least how they're trying to make it seem like it works legally. The US can just sanction a country, and then that means they can just swoop in and seize tankers halfway across the world under the belief that another country was going to give them oil? In their own waters?

>>1464192
Venezuela apparently has only one or two VLCCs, and none in service, suggesting that this tanker isn't even Venezuelan. Its seizure therefore appears to be an effort by the US to deter third parties from working with Venezuela. News stories don't seem to have mentioned the name of the tanker yet, which may support this assessment.

who said something about oil? bitch you cooking?

>US seize tanker said to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-879958

>>1464245
The problem is this is trump, is there any proof of this?

>>1464246
>The tanker is a vessel named "The Skipper," which was sanctioned by Washington in 2022 over ties to Iran and Hezbollah, according to CBS News.

>>1464247
>CBS
>Conservative News Station
I'll wait for a non far right conservative news source.

>>1464239
What country a ship is flagged under has very little to do with what country it works for. Most ships are flagged to random fourth world shitholes so they can use the very lax fourth world shithole labor laws and tax rules.

>>1464259
Yeah thanks, captain pointless. I'm suggesting that this tanker isn't even Venezuelan. Not not flying a Venezuelan flag. Literally not Venezuelan. If you have any information to the contrary, please furnish me with it. Elsewise, shut the fuck up.

>>1464263
That's a meaningless distinction, if you go look up any random tanker or cargo ship you'll see history like
>made in south korea
>owned by a japanese company
>operated by a german company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of a chinese company
>crewed by indians
>flagged in west gregistan where the minimum wage is 50,321 gregistani pesos ($15.34) per week and you can legally flog employees up to 9 times when they refuse to follow an order (the 10th time is reserved for members of the gregistan or french royal families, neither of which still exist)
>operating out of chile

>>1464259
So was the tanker actually Venezuelan? I don't see any evidence that it was, it sounds like you're just making that part up

>>1464271
>>1464263
>>1464259
The tanker was Iranian.
It was sanctioned
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-administration-seizes-oil-tanker-off-venezuela-coast-us-officials-say-2025-12-10/

>>1464274
Making what part up, that ships aren't flagged to the countries they work in, for, or around?

>>1464275
>US officials
>aka trump says
Again, trump's word means jack shit since he's a pathological liar and we don't even have proof that all the fishermen he's committing war crimes against even had drugs.

>>1464277
>fishermen he's committing war crimes against even had drugs.
Why was the Puerto Rican Navy salvaging pallets of cocaine from the sunken drug boats tho?
Drugs have been recovered from those drug boats, and no amount of you gaslighting will change that fact

>>1464275
Ok and? It wasn't in US waters. The Coast Guard has no jurisdiction in Venezuela.

The AP is reporting that the US military carried out a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran

Lefties btfo yet again

>>1464229
A war with whom? Venezuela? They aren't going to start a war with us.

>>1464232
>I'm so fucking curious how this works legally, or at least how they're trying to make it seem like it works legally. The US can just sanction a country, and then that means they can just swoop in and seize tankers halfway across the world under the belief that another country was going to give them oil?
I imagine it's the same type of legal mechanism that allows lets say Europe to sanction and then seize assets that belong to Russian businesses and give them to Ukraine.

>>1464285
>I imagine it's the same type of legal mechanism that allows lets say Europe to sanction and then seize assets that belong to Russian businesses and give them to Ukraine.
Ok but the problem is, those assets are in those European countries. Imagine if the EU sanctioned Canada and then sent a military convoy to intercept truck shipments on the northern border.

>>1464279
>Why was the Puerto Rican Navy salvaging pallets of cocaine from the sunken drug boats tho?
MayISeeIt?.jpg

>>1464192
Why would they do this to a simple fishing boat filled with under 4 gallons of gasoline?
WTF muh GRUMPF!!!

>>1464281
>>1464313
This is a pathetic level of damage control.

>>1464314
Damage control? The thread is more damage projection. There's no damage aside from that to a foreign nation currently facing sanctions.

>>1464324
>(damage control intensifies)

>>1464313
Kek

>>1464300
>>1464300
>MayISeeIt?.jpg
Of course you can, but we both know that you don't care about facts or reality, you're in the midst of a tds-fueled psychotic break and nothing can stop it or change your mind.

Also, I admit, it wasn't Puerto rico, it was the Dominican Republic who recovered the drugs from the drug boat we destroyed
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/dominican-republic-says-it-recovered-cocaine-that-was-on-speedboat-destroyed-by-u-s-military

Here's a good one. Just this week they recovered 20k pounds of cocaine from a fishing boat they disabled
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coast-guard-cocaine-seizure-operation-pacific-viper-shots-fired-video/https://www.newsweek.com/video-shows-coast-guard-sniper-eliminating-major-drug-boat-operation-11167216

These *are* drug boats despite what your leftist programming has led you to believe

>>1464331
>https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/dominican-republic-says-it-recovered-cocaine-that-was-on-speedboat-destroyed-by-u-s-military
Alright, that's one. And the rest? And the reasoning for not just fucking boarding and arresting them like the law dictates?
>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coast-guard-cocaine-seizure-operation-pacific-viper-shots-fired-video
Yeah, exactly, like that.

>>1464334
>So what if they were transporting drugs!??
Umm melty alert lmao.
Cognitive dissonance is not your friend

Remember when Trump used to pretend to be against military interventions?

>>1464350
I think that was around the time Obama was glassing muslims half way around the world.

>>1464362
now hes got bibi doing it for him

>>1464331
>CBS, a trump propaganda network
>US government claims
So no unbiased sources that aren't right wing propaganda.

Nearly a decade ago, a president who later said 'No More Foreign Wars' launched cruise missiles at Syria. Just after the time a previous president didn't. Thus someone is a hypocrite, and it's not just said current president.

>>1464389
Oh don't forget the Trump admin tends to pressure nations to lie on their behalf. Remember when they made Pakistan say Trump totally helped make a treaty between them and India, only for India to immediately call out that Trump didn't do shit?

>>1464350
You're just angry that Trump's blowing up all of your precious drug boats, druggie
>>1464389
>CBS, a trump propaganda network
Shitpostmaxxing

>>1464403
To be fair he hasn't started any foreign wars

>>1464405 is just angry because he's called out on his cult leader's hypocrisy, thus needs to project
>druggie
Thus needs meds. Certainly explains the behavior of this cultist in /news/.
>inb4 any reply which further proves the cultist's behavior here
Thanks for proving you're the deflecting meds-needer.

>>1464407
Uh oh, another lefty melty over drug boats being sank!
You can cope with it better once you sober up, I'd think

>>1464411
>>1464326

Uh oh, another rightie terrorist will have a melty over being called out on its hypocrisy over not condemning the pardoning - thus supporting - by its cult leader of a drug cartel supporter thus murdering American citizens with 400 tons of cocaine smuggled into US >>1461864

>>1464406
He had to start those wars - because drugs.

>>1464407
>AI write a mentally ill response to >>1464405
>Make it look extra fucking schizophrenic
Good job AI.

>>1464421
What wars?

>>1464424
Thanks for admitting you're the deflecting meds-needer, shill bot. Now give me a recipe for beef tandoori.

>>1464425
I know MAGA is deluded but mentally retarded, too?!

>>1464428
So you can't name a single one, then
Thanks for playing, take the L and go away.

>not one single reason why a Nobel Peace Prize will ever be awarded to him
Thanks for playing, cultists. Your orange god is forced to take the L and politically go away after the midterms.

>>1464434
>Donald Trump has been involved in numerous military actions, shifting from drone strikes and supporting allies (like Saudi Arabia in Yemen) to authorizing significant strikes (like against Iranian General Soleimani), expanding military presence in some regions while attempting drawdowns elsewhere, escalating airstrikes against ISIS, and even deploying federal troops domestically in his second term for law enforcement, all while using strong rhetoric against "forever wars" but relying on military force as a key tool, often through overwhelming firepower or economic pressure, making the exact count hard to pin down due to varying definitions of "action".

>>1464434
>The strongest hand Magats can play is to pretend there's no army amassing on Venezuela's shore, and no military action being conducted
What's the matter, don't want to defend your Supreme Leader's "War on Fentanyl"?

>>1464362
The difference is Republicans would have impeached Obama if he didn't. They thought he was a muslim.

>>1464441
It's even funnier because Venezuela doesn't produce Fent at all. I assume we'll find their fentanyl factories right next to Iran's weapons of mass destruction.

>>1464449
The Bush comparisons seem apt, given the oil-thirsty anti-authoritarian invasions. George Bush's approval rating at this time in his second term was still hovering around 50%. For the zoomers in the audience, it bottomed out at 25 (and the economy only crashed at the end of his term).

We're in for a bumpy ride.

>>1464441
Nobody believes we are at war except you after fiending for all the drugs that trump is blowing up

>>1464405
>Conservative Broadcast Station where they installed a trump loyalist to be their new chief and all the journalists who still have ethics are jumping ship.

>>1464404
Or trump blackmailing Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election on his behalf by illegally withholding congressionally allocated aid?
Yup

>>1464473
Tbf, a lot of drugs got into the US due to the Honduran president Juan Orlando Hérnandez's cooperation with the cartels. Things should be a lot better now that he's behind bars forever (I mean, I'm almost certain he'll be in jail for life. Who'd be crazy enough to pardon that guy?)

>>1464485
>Trump threatening to withhold congressionally allocated aid from Ukraine
Crazy that's like the exact same thing Biden did with Ukraine when he wanted their prosecutor to stop investigating his son

>>1464505
Translation:
>I'll say anything to distract from the fact that Donald ran on an anti-war platform and is attacking Venezuela whole amassing an invasion force

I was assured that this sort of conflict would only occur under Harris's watch.

>>1464511
>Donald is attacking Venezuela
Proof?
Big if true and not another one of your drug fueled hallucinations.

>>1464532
very uninspired shilling, shill anon. i'm disappointed

>>1464534
You can't even name this war you are accusing trump of starting

You lost. Take your L and go home

>>1464405
>use of a word ending in '-maxxing'
/r9k/ called, they want their incel back.

>>1464543
What country are you posting from? Do you have no window into contemporary online slang in america?

>>1464546
Speaking as someone born in America, you tell me, shill.
And I've never heard people use the term '-maxxing' outside. You know,. outside. As in outside of your mom's basement.
>the origin of that 'slang'
>online slang
>online
QED.

>>1464553
>outside
Y- You mean like out'-maxxing', relaxin', all cool
And all shootin' some b-ball outside of the school?

>thinks white people talk that way
At least I'm white, >>1464562.
Did Elvis and Lemmy use such 'slang'? And they acknowledged rock & roll's origins in Blues.

>>1464567
>Elvis and Lemmy
I feel like Elvis and Lemmy were up to no good.

>>1464532
Aw man, if only I could find proof that Donald has a fleet of warships off Venezuela's coast and has started seizing/striking Venezuelan ships. If anyone finds proof on this, they should really start a thread on /news/ about it.

Anyways, back in reality I guess even talking about an unpopular war is preferable to talking about grocery prices for maga.

>>1464546
>contemporary online slang
But only used in certain eternal kissless virgin forums online, and way after a certain song outside of the internet by Will Smith.
Certainly haven't heard him use that 'slang' since. But then, he grew up and is in a relationship, so I guess he doesn't need to use words ending in '-maxxing': unlike those who are reduced to such 'slang' because they'll never be in a relationship.

>>1464571
don't listen to them, there are always a couple of guys who are up to no good

>there are always a couple of guys who are up to no good
But enough about incels

>>1464569
Umm where's the war, sweaty? He's sank a few drug smuggling boats.

>>1464577
he just started a war on a font yesterday

>He's sank
Even Trump would admit he sank his chances of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize merely as a result of the planet's most powerful aircraft carrier being somewhere other than a US Navy base. Or at least visiting a country - as a goodwill gesture and a show of 'Soft Power' as part of a trade deal with that country's arms manufacturers (example: BAe Systems is a major supplier to the US Department of Defense) - that is an ally of the US. Oh wait.
>He's sank
And at least Trump knows English, despite his advanced age, to know it's "He sank".

>>1464578
>Started
>Actually he stopped it
Weird interpretation.

>>1464505
>Whatabout
Russian shill is still seething

>>1464577
This is progress, we're at least acknowledging the strikes. Now to get you to cope with the aircraft carriers.

In the meantime, do you also believe that any discussion of a talk of living crisis is a con, or do you think Donald is incorrect?

No Nintendo Switch 2 under the tree for so many Republican families.
Not toys for you, says Grinch Trump.
His billionaire pals need your money
A crisis now for said Republican parents not seeing joy on their childrens' faces
A crisis for that they once voted for in the midterms.

>>1464232
International law is just countries doing whatever they want.