Posted on 12/22/2025 12:24:05 PM PST by DFG
President Donald Trump is scheduled to make an announcement from his home in Florida on Monday alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.
The event is planned for 4:30 p.m. ET, but further details have not been released about what the president will say.
The move comes after the Coast Guard seized a second sanctioned oil tanker in international waters off the Venezuelan coast on Saturday and announced it was pursuing a third on Sunday.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco-terrorism in the region,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement on social media. "We will find you, and we will stop you."
After that first seizure on Dec. 10, Trump vowed that the U.S. would carry out a “blockade” of Venezuela. It all comes as Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric toward President Nicolas Maduro and warned that the longtime Venezuelan leader’s days in power are numbered.
In September, the U.S. military also began launching deadly strikes on suspected narcotics-trafficking vessels, which are operated by what the Trump administration has classified as Designated Terrorist Organizations.
The latest strike was carried out on Thursday.
Seize fentanyl and meth precursors from Chicom freighters bound for Mexico, please.
“My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Venezuela forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
An “announcement”?
Hegseth is staying put ... right?
BYE BYE OFFSHORE WIND FARMS.
“...40 percent of dark fleet ships serving Venezuela are under U.S. sanctions...
“TankerTrackers estimates that 38 ships used to ferry Venezuelan oil are under U.S. sanctions...”
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5653213-venezuela-oil-blockade-dark-fleet/
Russia on Monday expressed "full support" for Venezuela as the South American country confronts a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers by U.S. forces deployed in the Caribbean, the two governments said.
In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the two allied countries blasted the U.S. actions, which have included bombing alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two tankers.
A third ship was being pursued, a U.S. official told AFP Sunday.
"The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping," the Russian Foreign Ministry said of the call between ministers Sergei Lavrov and Yván Gil.
"The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context," it added.
"The ministers agreed to continue their close bilateral cooperation and to coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs."
Moscow Risks Losing a Key Ally in Latin America as Trump Ramps Up Pressure on Venezuela’s Maduro
The UN Security Council is to meet Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis between Venezuela and the United States after a request from Caracas, backed by China and Russia. On Telegram, Venezuela's Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed "the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government."
U.S. forces have since September launched strikes on boats Washington said, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
More than 100 people have been killed, some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments. U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 16 announced a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" sailing to and from Venezuela.
Trump has claimed Caracas under Maduro is using oil money to finance "drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.
Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow's "full support in the face of hostilities against our country."
Question to AI: Since December 10 when the first Venezuela tanker was seized, how many tankers have successfully departed Venezuela to markets?
Answer: Two. Two VLCC tankers fully loaded with 1.9 million barrels each departed for China and were not touched.
There has been no 100% cut off of Maduro cash, and besides all that, what happened to the vaunted power of SWIFT exclusion? Why are these actions taking place at all offshore Ven if SWIFT were truly effective?
The “Trump” class of battleship.
Battleships are reefs that haven’t been sunk yet.
I wonder if they will have gold all over them?
Just think what that sucker will get on eBay! Pay down the debt.
Jobs
Hopefully this new class of US Navy ship turns out better than the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) fiasco.
Just overthrow the NeoSoviet Maduro, and give Venezuela back to the people.
After that let’s do business with Venezuela.
Happy days ahead (after Maduro).
I thought the Falkands war showed that missiles beat battleships.
The move comes after the Coast Guard seized a second sanctioned oil tanker in international waters off the Venezuelan coast on Saturday.
~~~~~
Not entirely correct. The tanker is owned in Hong Kong, and registered in Panama. It had onloaded a load of sanctioned Russian crude from a sanctioned Russian tanker around Malaysia, and offloaded it in Venezuela. The tanker was then filled with thick sour Venezuelan crude in a laundering operation.
...Fair game in my book.
No battleships were involved in the Falklands campaign. The Argentinians lost a light cruiser, Belgrano (former USS Phoenix), to a torpedo.
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