Trump warns Venezuela's Maduro against playing 'tough' as U.S. Coast Guard chases another tanker

U.S. Chairwoman Donald ruff on mon delivered a young warning to Venezuelan chair Nicolás Maduro as the U.S. Coast Guard steps up efforts to seize oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Republican administration's escalating pressure campaign on the government in Caracas.

Trump was surrounded by his top national security aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, as he suggested that he remains ready to further escalate his four-month pressure campaign on the Maduro government, which began with the stated purpose of stemming the flow of illegal drugs from the South American nation but has developed into something more amorphous.

"If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it'll be the last time he'll ever be able to play tough," Trump said of Maduro as he took a break from his Florida vacation to announce plans for the Navy to build a new, large warship.

Trump levied his latest threat as the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday continued for a second day to chase a sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration describes as part of a "dark fleet" Venezuela is using to evade U.S. Sanctions. The tanker, according to the White House, is flying under a false flag and is under a U.S. Judicial seizure order.

"It's moving along and we'll end up getting it," Trump said.

It is the third tanker pursued by the U.S. Coast Guard, which on Saturday seized a Panama-flagged vessel called Centuries that U.S. Officials said was part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet.

The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, seized a sanctioned tanker that was registered in Panama called Skipper on Dec. 10, also part of the shadow fleet of tankers the U.S. Says operates on the fringes of the law to move sanctioned cargo.

Trump, after that first seizure, said the U.S. Would carry out a "blockade" of Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly said that Maduro's days in power are numbered.

Last week, Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. Oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a blockade against sanctioned oil tankers travelling to or from the South American country.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, said in a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends that the targeting of tankers is intended to send "a message around the world that the illegal activity that Maduro is participating in cannot stand, he needs to be gone, and that we will stand up for our people."

Later on Monday, Trump said Washington would maybe keep or maybe sell the oil it had seized off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks, adding the U.S. Would also keep the seized ships.

U.S. Targets a 3rd oil tanker near Venezuela

Meantime, tanker loading in Venezuela dwindled on Monday, with most ships moving oil cargoes only between domestic ports. A tanker that's considered part of the shadow fleet was spotted moving between Venezuelan refineries, including one about three hours west of the capital, Caracas.

The tanker remained at the refinery in El Palito through Sunday, when families went to the town's beach to relax with children now on break from school. Music played on loudspeakers as people swam and surfed with the tanker in the background.

Families and groups of teenagers enjoyed themselves, but Manuel Salazar, who has parked cars at the beach for more than three decades, noticed differences from years past, when the country's oil-dependent economy was in better shape and the energy industry produced at least double the current one million barrels per day.

"Up to nine or 10 tankers would wait out there in the bay. One would leave, another would come in," said Salazar, 68. "Now, look, one."

The tanker in El Palito has been identified by Transparencia Venezuela, an independent watchdog promoting government accountability, to be part of the shadow fleet.

Venezuela’s ruling party-controlled National Assembly on Monday gave initial approval to a measure that would criminalize a broad range of activities that could be linked to the seizure of oil tankers.

Lawmaker Giuseppe Alessandrello, who introduced the bill, said people could be fined and imprisoned for up to 20 years for promoting, requesting, supporting, financing or participating in "acts of piracy, blockades or other international illegal acts against" commercial entities operating with the South American country.

Russia's Foreign Ministry started evacuating the families of diplomats from Venezuela, according to a European intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

The official told The Associated Press the evacuations include women and children and began on Friday, adding that Russian Foreign Ministry officials are assessing the situation in Venezuela in "very grim tones." The ministry said in a post on X that it was not evacuating the embassy but did not address queries about whether it was evacuating the families of diplomats.

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Yvan Gil on Monday said he spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who he said expressed Russia's support for Venezuela against Trump's declared blockade of sanctioned oil tankers.

"We reviewed the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law that have been committed in the Caribbean: attacks against vessels and extrajudicial executions, and the unlawful acts of piracy carried out by the United States government," Gil said in a statement.

The U.S. Defence Department, under Trump's orders, continues its campaign of attacks on smaller vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that it alleges are carrying drugs to the United States and beyond.

At least 104 people have been killed in 28 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from U.S. Lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers, and they suggest that the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.

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