Caption: A screen grab from a video posted by US Attorney General Pam Bondi on her X account on December 10, 2025 shows what Bondi says is the execution of “a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran” off the coast of Venezuela on December 10

WASHINGTON DC – United States legislators on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the US’ seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, flying the Guyana flag.

As he escalates pressure to force Venezuela’s President Nicholas Maduro from office, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the US military had just seized the oil tanker.

“As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump said. “Large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized actually.”

Democratic legislators and Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, immediately responded to the remarks.

“It sounds a lot like the beginning of a war,” Paul, a constant critic of Trump’s Venezuela policy, told reporters.

He said it is not “the job of the American government to go looking for monsters around the world, looking for adversaries and beginning wars.”

Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Coons, the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, said he was “gravely concerned that (Trump) is sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela.”

 

Last week, Paul and Democratic Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia, Adam Schiff of California and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York introduced a war powers resolution that would prohibit Trump from starting a war with Venezuela without approval from the US Congress.

“If you want war, the president should come to Congress, like the Constitution dictates, and he should ask Congress for a declaration of war,” Paul said. “That’s what should be going on right now.”

At the same time, Schiff warned that Trump’s latest action seems to be “a very dangerous escalation and a prelude to a potential conflict we should not be involved in.”

In posting a video on X later on Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that the oil tanker was transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.

“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 wrote.

But Venezuela’s foreign affairs minister, Yván Gil Pinto, described the oil tanker’s seizure as a “blatant theft” and “an act of international piracy.”

He wrote on social media, “The true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have been laid bare. It is not migration. It is not drug trafficking. It is not democracy. It is not human rights. It has always been about our natural wealth, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.”

Guyana Maritime Administration Department said in a statement posted on Facebook on Wednesday that, while the tanker was flying a Guyana flag. it is not registered in Guyana.

“The Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) has observed the proliferation and unacceptable trend of the unauthorized use of the Guyana Flag by vessels that are not registered in Guyana,” the statement said.

“Today, the Government of the United States of America (USA) informed the Guyana Maritime Administration Department that they have encountered the Motor Tanker SKIPPER (ex-ADISA), IMO Number 9304667 in International Waters,” it added. “It was falsely flying the Guyana Flag, as it is not registered in Guyana.

“MARAD will continue to reach out to and work with international partners and other maritime agencies to identify, pursue, and take firm action against any unauthorized use of the Guyana Flag,” the statement continued.

Meantime, Schiff has called on Trump to fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for his involvement in boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and the killing of survivors, and the national security breaches that endangered the US military through Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to discuss sensitive national security information. (AFP)