Trump administration says the U.S. seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast

The Trump administration says it seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, as Congress presses for answers about U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats and the admiral overseeing the strikes retires.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

President Trump was the first to say that the U.S. military seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Attorney General Pam Bondi released a 45-second video showing what appeared to be U.S. forces and the Coast Guard rappelling from a helicopter onto the tanker. There's been a U.S. military buildup near Venezuela in recent weeks as Congress pushes for answers about U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats, and specifically a September 2 incident when the U.S. military killed two men who survived an initial round of strikes.

INSKEEP: So much to talk about, so we have called Steve Walsh, who covers the military for WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia. Steve, good morning.

STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: Why did the administration seize this oil tanker?

WALSH: Well, the details are just coming in. But after the president confirmed the seizure, Justice Department Head Pam Bondi posted on social media that it was an oil tanker U.S. authorities had been watching and that it was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. This could be a ratcheting up of not just military, but economic pressure on Venezuela and its president, Nicolas Maduro.

INSKEEP: I want to clarify the law here. Venezuela has already called this piracy. President Trump was asked, what are you going to do with the oil? He said, I guess we'll keep it. The U.S. just took the oil. Is there some legal basis for this?

WALSH: Well, there is a court order to do this. So this may not be part of a larger effort to seize, like, all the oil coming out of Venezuela.

INSKEEP: OK. So we'll continue following that aspect of this. Now, I want to ask about the broader U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean. Admiral Alvin Holsey, who had been overseeing the Venezuela boat strikes, is stepping down this week. How important is that?

WALSH: Well, we still have not heard a lot publicly about why Admiral Holsey is leaving. It's an incredibly unusual move for a top commander to leave one year into what is typically a three-year assignment. Holsey oversees Southern Command, which includes any military operation around South America. There had been some media accounts that Holsey had a run-in with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. But again, Holsey is not commenting, and NPR has not confirmed that. He submitted his resignation about a month after the first deadly strike in September against a boat in the Caribbean that killed four people, which the Trump administration claims was carrying drugs.

INSKEEP: Right.

WALSH: Keep in mind this operation started out as an effort to go after migrants using traditional means like Navy destroyers, paired with Coast Guard law enforcement team. I talked with a friend of Holsey. Retired Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris hasn't spoken to Holsey since he announced he was resigning, but he says the man nicknamed Bull would not have acted out of emotion.

SINCLAIR HARRIS: Bull always evaluates everything based on his beliefs - his beliefs in his country, what the Constitution says, what his responsibilities are to higher authority, to the forces that are under him. I think all those things are probably part of what factored into whatever decision he made.

WALSH: Holsey did appear before lawmakers this week to try to address concerns over the ongoing boat strikes, but that was behind closed doors. We don't know what was said, but reports hint that Holsey was at least diplomatic.

INSKEEP: OK. So what happens now?

WALSH: Well, the fact remains that no top U.S. military official has really addressed lawmakers' concerns. They're still demanding both the video of that September 2 strike and the legal rationale the administration says that it has used to carry out 22 strikes against alleged drug boats that have killed 87 people.

INSKEEP: WHRO's Steve Walsh in Norfolk. Thanks so much.

WALSH: Thanks, Steve.

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.