The United States has seized another tanker linked to Venezuela, officials told Reuters on January 15, 2026. This is the sixth vessel recently seized that carried or was linked to Venezuelan oil. The seizure occurred in the Caribbean, according to anonymous US officials. The Southern Command confirmed the morning operation, saying US forces took control of the Motor/Tanker Veronica "without incident." The command said the vessel broke President Trump’s quarantine on sanctioned ships in the Caribbean. They stated, "The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully." These seizures are part of Trump’s push to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. This campaign peaked with US forces capturing Maduro and his wife on January 3, 2026. Trump has announced plans to control Venezuela's oil resources permanently to fix the country’s broken oil industry. So far, seized vessels were either under US sanctions or part of secret fleets disguising their oil shipments from Iran, Russia, or Venezuela. Recently, the US caught a Russian-flagged tanker pursued for two weeks, which was protected by a Russian submarine. Russia condemned the move. The latest tanker seizure came just before Trump’s first in-person meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Machado has been called a "freedom fighter" by Trump but he said she lacks enough support to lead Venezuela. A CIA report told Trump that Maduro loyalists, including Diosdado Cabello’s ally Rodriguez, remain the most stable force in the country.