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On Wednesday, the United States carried out one of its most consequential maritime interventions to date. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, acting with support from the Department of War, seized a crude oil tanker accused of transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. It was a dramatic show of force in already volatile waters and an intervention that has jolted Caracas.

The operation was presented as a decisive strike against illicit oil flows. Yet within hours, Venezuela had denounced it as “state piracy”, and the reaction inside the US was just as stark. Several lawmakers warned openly that the move risked igniting a wider conflict. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said, “It sounds a lot like the beginning of a war.” At the same time, Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, told NewsNation he was “gravely concerned that [Trump] is sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela.” When voices from opposite ends of the political spectrum converge on the same fear, it’s a sign that something far more serious is unfolding than a routine sanctions-enforcement action.

In reality, the seizure is not a show of strength but another indication that the Trump administration, led by the State Department, remains stuck in a mindset that harms both national and Western energy security. The decision to seize the tanker has been welcomed by the same neoconservative voices who have spent years turning Venezuela policy into a stage for political posturing. They insist that punitive measures will tighten the screws on Caracas.

What they ignore is the long record of such actions failing to bring about any strategic gain. Instead, they have pushed Venezuela deeper into the arms of China and Russia, damaged supply chains, and driven up global volatility. China now takes between 55% and 90% of Venezuela’s oil exports, with shipments to the nation reaching about 746,000 barrels per day in November 2025, the highest level since mid-2023. At the same time, Iranian condensate and, more recently, Russian naphtha have stepped in as key diluents, keeping Venezuela’s heavy crude moving to Asian buyers.

The latest seizure follows this same pattern: it squeezes Western access, while entrenched buyers in Beijing and other “antagonistic” countries adjust and carry on. The effect on the United States is immediate and predictable. It’s hard to see how boarding a tanker at sea protects American interests when global supplies are already tight, and prices are increasingly unstable.

Around 90% of Venezuelan oil imported to the US goes to the Gulf Coast, and the market for substitutes is thin. When those barrels are disrupted, refiners are forced to turn to more distant and often more expensive sources elsewhere, with longer voyage times and higher transport costs. This eventually shows up in the prices paid by American households.

In the past year, analysts at firms such as Kpler and RBN Energy have warned that any significant fall in Venezuelan supply to the US, on the order of 200,000 barrels per day, would leave Gulf Coast refiners facing a “severe shortage of heavy crude”, with limited alternatives given production problems in Mexico and constraints on Canadian flows.

In practical terms, tensions near Venezuela could jeopardize vital crude imports from Chevron’s joint ventures and trigger another spike in fuel prices. The seizure, therefore, does not strengthen American security. It resembles an act of international piracy that weakens Western supply lines and hands an easy propaganda victory to adversaries who argue that the US uses maritime law to bully weaker nations and manipulate global markets.

That argument also carries further weight for a simple reason: Washington has no legal basis for this kind of operation. US sanctions are unilateral measures that have no standing on the high seas and can only be enforced within US jurisdiction or against US persons.

By asserting legal authority it does not possess, the US risks setting a dangerous precedent that adversaries like China and Russia will exploit in critical global energy chokepoints, undermining long-term stability.

Recognizing that American energy security depends on stable cooperation, not illegal confiscation, can inspire policymakers and analysts to support engagement over conflict.

The tanker seizure may please a narrow circle in Washington, but it moves the US further away from strategic stability. If America wants to protect its interests in the Western Hemisphere, it must stop acting like a privateer and start rebuilding the commercial and diplomatic ties that once made it a trusted partner.

By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com