US Relied on Illegal Sanctions to Seize Venezuelan Oil Tanker

""We have just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela - a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually," Donald Trump told reporters on December 10, describing the escalation of his apparently impending illegal war and regime change in Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi ceremoniously released a video clip of the U.S. Marines and National Guard rappelling down from two helicopters onto the tanker."

"In seizing the "Skipper," the Trump administration relied on sanctions the U.S. had imposed on the Venezuelan oil tanker. Bondi said a seizure warrant was executed by the U.S. Coast Guard, FBI, Pentagon, and Homeland Security Investigations. "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 stated."

"But those sanctions are illegal and cannot provide a lawful basis for the U.S. to seize this vessel. Only the Security Council Is Authorized to Impose Sanctions Although claims in the corporate media that Venezuelan oil is subject to " international sanctions " are ubiquitous, nothing could be further from the truth. When a country takes it upon itself to impose sanctions without Security Council approval, they are called unilateral coercive measures, which violate the UN Charter."

U.S. officials announced the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker called the "Skipper," with video showing Marines and National Guard personnel boarding the vessel. The administration cited U.S. sanctions imposed in 2022 for alleged ties to Iran and claimed a warrant was executed by the Coast Guard, FBI, Pentagon, and Homeland Security Investigations. Those U.S.-imposed sanctions are unilateral coercive measures. International law empowers only the UN Security Council to impose binding sanctions. Sanctions imposed without Security Council approval violate the UN Charter and therefore cannot provide a lawful basis for the U.S. seizure of the tanker.

Read at Truthout