Sakshi Venkatraman
Live reporter

Image source, US Department of Justice

US armed forces seized a large oil tanker ship off the coast of Venezuela today, exacerbating already tense relations between the two countries that have worsened over the last few months.

American officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi allege that the vessel had been involved in "an illicit oil shipping network" supporting foreign terrorist organisations, transporting oil between Venezuela and Iran.

But Venezuelan officials call the seizure an "act of international piracy".

In a statement, the Venezuelan government alleges that the "policy of aggression" against Venezuela is part of a "deliberate plan to plunder our energy resources".

Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello called the US "murderers, thieves, pirates".

This comes as the US continues to bolster its military operations in the region, where it has been striking alleged drug trafficking boats in a mission called "Operation Southern Spear". Trump says this is meant to stop narcotics from entering the country and killing Americans. Since September, the US has hit 23 vessels and killed 84 people.

Today's seizure is seen by some as an escalation, and the BBC's US partner CBS News reports Trump is considering more actions like it.

We're ending our live coverage here, but you can check out this article for the full breakdown of what happened today: US seizes oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, Trump says

Trump gave few details on the seizure, and saved his harshest words for Colombia's presidentpublished at 01:36 GMT

01:36 GMT

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

I was in the sweltering hot Roosevelt Room of the White House this afternoon when President Trump first announced the seizure of this oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

I was standing towards the middle of the table, just a few feet from President Trump and with a clear, unobstructed view of him as he spoke.

His tone when discussing the ship seizure struck me as somewhat surprising.

It was very measured, and with few details. He's seemingly content, for now, to let others handle the job of answering specifics.

It stood in stark contrast to another occasion I was in the room - in September - when Trump announced the initial strike against a Venezuelan drug boat. On that occasion, he seemed extremely happy to discuss the attack and how it played into his broader plans.

This time, we still don't know much about the incident or how it plays into the administration's campaign against Nicolás Maduro's government, other than the US intends to keep the ship, and, Trump assumes, the oil it was carrying.

His harshest comments today, it seemed to me, were not about Venezuela at all, but against neighbouring Colombia's president Gustavo Petro, who he warned "better wise up or he'll be next".

There are many more questions to be asked about this, but we're unlikely to hear from him again today.

Image source, US Department of Justice

The type of operation that took place to seize the tanker is "routine" for the US military, retired US Marine Corps Colonel Mark Cancian tells the BBC.

Troops train constantly to seize ships like this, either via small boats or helicopter, he explains.

"This is so routine that the crews (of the ships) know that they just stand back and do what they're told. So there really isn't very much danger unless they decided to resist."

That doesn't mean that an operation like this is very common, though, Cancian says.

Cancian, who is now senior adviser at the think tank CSIS Defense and Security Department, says this could be the first step towards a total blockade of Venezuela's oil.

"That would be an attack on their economy. Because Venezuela is so dependent on oil, they could not resist that very long."

The question now becomes: Will the US keep seizing ships?

The Maduro government is "scrambling to figure out what happens with the next tail tanker that sails, because that they sail daily," says Cancian.

But a total blockade like that "would be an act of war", he says.

US officials are reacting to their government's seizure of an oil tanker near Venezuela.

Republicans

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel, whose respective agencies took part in today's seizure, issued statements on X.

"America rules the waves," Noem writes, adding, "If you threaten our nation, or break the law, there is no place on land or sea where we won’t find you. Thank you to our brave service members," she said.

The Department of Homeland Security also shares footage from the seizure with the caption "KNOCKOUT" and echoes Noem's statement.

Patel added that the administration’s efforts to "crush FTO's [foreign terror organisations] and cut off their resources will continue day and night".

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says that he very much supports Trump's decision to seize the tanker and accuses Venezuela of being "a dictator-controlled narcoterrorist state at the expense of the United States for far too long". He draws comparisons between Venezuela and Russia and says "it is long past time for Maduro’s regime of terror to end".

Democrats

"So they can seize an oil tanker, but not a drug boat?" writes Senator Mark Warner of Virginia on social media, apparently referring to previous attacks on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific, which the US has struck.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has built a online brand trolling Trump and his administration on X, posted an AI-generated clip of Trump, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller handcuffed simultaneously.

Before today's seizure, US forces hit at least 23 vessels in 22 separate strikes in international waters between 2 September and 4 December, both in the Caribbean and in the eastern Pacific.

The majority of these strikes have taken place off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia. Collectively, about 84 people have been killed.

While US forces have not publicly identified those operating the ships, they have all been alleged to be "narco-terrorists".

Reports from US media, including the AP, have said that at least some of the Venezuelans killed in the strikes were low-level traffickers driven by poverty to a life of crime, as well as at least one local crime boss.

Ione Wells
South America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

More strong words coming from Venezuela’s government just now.

Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has just called the US "murderers, thieves, pirates".

He references the Pirates of the Caribbean Disney films, saying that while pirate character Captain Jack Sparrow is a "hero", Cabello believes "these guys (the Americans) are high seas criminals, buccaneers".

He says these actions are how the US has "started wars all over the world".

Maritime company identifies oil tanker as sanctioned, dark fleet vesselpublished at 00:27 GMT

00:27 GMT

By Lucy Gilder

Maritime risk company Vanguard Tech has identified the oil tanker seized by US forces as SKIPPER.

"The vessel is reported to be part of the dark fleet, and was sanctioned by the United States for carrying Venezuelan oil exports," it says.

Vanguard believes its last location before seizure was north east of Caracas.

BBC Verify has located this tanker on MarineTraffic, external, which shows it was sailing under the flag of Guyana when its position was last updated two days ago.

Vanguard Tech has told BBC Verify it believes the seizure took place early this morning eastern standard time, according to intelligence it has gathered.

Vanguard says it believes the vessel was "spoofing its position for a long time" - meaning it may have been broadcasting a false location and therefore its reported position on MarineTraffic may not be accurate.

We can bring you some more lines from the Venezuelan government's response to the US's announcement of a seizure of an oil tanker off the coast earlier today.

In a lengthy statement, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela condemns Donald Trump for confessing to "the attack" and says the US president's "objective has always been to seize Venezuelan oil without paying any compensation".

The statement says that Trump makes it clear "that the policy of aggression against our country is part of a deliberate plan to plunder our energy resources".

It also says that the reasons behind prolonged aggression against Venezuela "have finally been revealed."

"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 resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people."

The statement further accuses the US of "imperial abuses" and said it will appeal to all existing international bodies "to denounce this grave international crime" and will "defend with absolute determination its sovereignty, its natural resources, and its national dignity".

Ione Wells
South America correspondent

Venezuela's government has accused the US of "theft" and "international piracy" after it seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

In a statement, the government alleges that the "policy of aggression" against Venezuela is part of a "deliberate plan to plunder our energy resources".

It also accuses the US of "imperial abuses" and said that the US’s "prolonged aggression against Venezuela" was not due to migration, drug-trafficking, democracy or human rights but has "always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy".

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from New York

If you're just joining us, we're covering the US seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela today.

Here's what you need to know:

• Earlier today, US military forces conducted a large-scale operation to seize an oil tanker near Venezuela, Donald Trump told reporters at the White House
• US Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a post on X, alleged that the vessel had been involved in "an illicit oil shipping network" supporting foreign terrorist organisations
• A senior military official tells the BBC's US partner CBS News that the mission to seize the tanker, called The Skipper, involved two helicopters, 10 Coast Guard members, 10 Marines, as well as special forces
• This comes as the US has been building its military presence around the region in recent weeks, in an operation it says is to combat drug trafficking
• Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was aware of today's seizure, and the Trump administration is considering taking more actions like this, the source told CBS
• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has had a rocky relationship with Trump, spoke to supporters today before news of the tanker's seizure came out. He said Venezuela will never again be an "oil colony" and criticised the US's moves near the country

Stick with us - we'll continue to bring you more of the latest details.

A senior military official tells the BBC's US partner CBS News that the mission to seize the tanker was launched from a Department of War vessel.

It involved two helicopters, 10 Coast Guard members, 10 Marines, as well as special forces.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was aware of the operation, and Trump administration is considering taking more actions like this, the source said.

Danielle Kaye
New York business reporter

Oil prices inched higher on Wednesday as news about the US seizing a tanker off the coast of Venezuela exacerbated short-term supply concerns. The move could threaten shippers and thwart Venezuela's oil exports.

Brent crude futures, the leading oil crude benchmark, rose 0.4% to settle at $62.21 a barrel on Wednesday.

Still, in the US, gas prices - which are closely tied to crude oil prices - remain at multi-year lows. Last week, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline fell below $3 for the first time in four years, according to AAA data.

Speaking at a rally earlier today, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had a message for US residents who are against war with Venezuela.

It came in the form of a 1988 hit song.

"To American citizens who are against the war, I respond with a very famous song: Don't worry, be happy," Maduro said in Spanish before singing along to the lyrics of the song.

"Not war, be happy. Not, not crazy war, not, be happy."

It's unclear if Maduro knew about the seizure of the tanker before this rally.

Trump said at the White House earlier that he hadn't spoken to Maduro since last month, but relations between the two countries have become tense as the US military presence in the Caribbean escalates.

Maduro also said in the speech that anyone who wants Venezuelan oil must respect the law and that Venezuela would never again be an "oil colony".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News

Watching video of the ship's seizure, my mind went back to October, when I accompanied the president on a trip to watch a demonstration of naval capabilities to celebrate the US Navy's 250th day birthday.

After being flown by helicopters and Ospreys to the USS George HW Bush - an aircraft carrier - President Trump, and the press that joined him, watched an impressive display of naval firepower for well over an hour.

Part of that demonstration included what is known in the US military as VBSS - visit, board, search and seizure - and saw heavily armed Navy Seals fast-rope from helicopters on to the deck of a ship, which they then methodically cleared with weapons at the ready.

At the same time, another helicopter circled overhead, machine guns blasting away.

That procedure is similar to what we've seen in the latest video of the Venezuelan tanker.

Trump spoke to sailors during that visit, and was clearly impressed.

Now, it seems, a VBSS has been carried out on a real-world mission.

The tanker seized off the Venezuelan coast by the US is called "The Skipper", three sources tell CBS, the BBC's US media partner.

As we've been reporting, US Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged the vessel, which was carrying oil, has been involved in an "involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations".

Here's the clip, posted by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, which appears to show the US's seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela:

A 45-second clip, posted by US Attorney General Pam Bondi on X, appears to show the ship's seizure as it sails off the coast of Venezuela.

The clip includes images of helicopters approaching a tanker and what appear to be US troops boarding the vessel.

Here are some stills from that footage:

Image source, US Department of Justice

Image source, US Department of Justice

Image source, US Department of Justice

Image source, Getty Images

US Attorney General Pam Bondi has posted more information about the seizure on social media, saying the tanker has been sanctioned for many years due to its "involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations".

She says the the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and US Coast Guard - with support of the Department of Defence - "executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran".

Bondi, the nation's top prosecutor who leads the US Department of Justice, adds the seizure off the coast Venezuela was "conducted safely and securely" and that an investigation into "the transport of sanctioned oil" will continue.

Her remarks are accompanied by a video purporting to show the seizure - we'll bring you more on this shortly.

Image source, Getty Images

Trump is a long-time critic of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who he accused of being a "horrible dictator" in a Fox News interview earlier this year.

When asked whether he was demanding that Maduro leave office, Trump said: "We're going to work on that policy."

For months, the US military has been building up a force of warships, fighter jets, bombers, Marines, drones and spy planes in the Caribbean Sea - its largest deployment there in decades.

And the US has been conducting air strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in recent months, which the administration says are necessary to stem the flow of drugs.

Trump has accused Maduro of being the leader of a drug-trafficking organisation - which Maduro denies - and authorised the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.

Trump has also said that the US is "looking at land now", referring to possible military operations on Venezuelan soil.

In August the US upped its bounty for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50m (£38m).

Venezuela speculates over goal of US actionpublished at 21:56 GMT 10 December

21:56 GMT 10 December

Ione Wells
South America correspondent

While the US has always claimed its military build-up in the Caribbean is about tackling drug-trafficking, there has been much speculation about what other potential goals it may have.

Many analysts say it is about putting military pressure on Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro to resign, while the Venezuelan government has accused the US of trying to grab Venezuelan oil reserves.

This is a view shared by some in the region too. A Venezuelan man in Caracas told the BBC on Tuesday that while he was not a fan of the Venezuelan government, he believed the US was "coming for the gold, for the country's riches, the oil".

While a tanker being seized – often because of sanction violations – is not unprecedented, this latest US move may further fuel the Venezuelan government's argument.

There are widespread sanctions on Venezuelan oil, although some companies are exempt. The US company Chevron operates in the country and drills in many parts of Venezuela.

It pays the government with some of the oil it produces alongside the state oil company, PDVSA, via joint ventures between the companies.

The US has given Chevron a licence to exempt it from sanctions.