Hegseth Issued An Ultimatum To Maduro

• 21.12.2025, 8:54

After a new hijacking of a tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

The US will continue to detain tankers leaving Venezuela until the regime of the country's President Nicolas Maduro returns "all stolen US assets."

The US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in X.

"President Trump has made it clear: The blockade of tankers carrying authorized oil leaving or heading to Venezuela will remain in full force until Maduro's criminal enterprise returns all stolen U.S. assets," Hegseth wrote.

He said the states "will not waver" in conducting maritime operations to intercept tankers carrying authorized oil, and "violence, drugs and chaos" will not control the Western Hemisphere.

"The Department of War, in conjunction with our Coast Guard partners, will not waver in conducting maritime interdiction operations - as part of Operation Southern Spear - to dismantle illegal criminal networks," the U.S. Secretary of War wrote.

On Dec. 20, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted another oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. US Secretary of Homeland Security Christy Noem, commenting on the footage of the operation, emphasized: Washington will continue to pursue illegal shipments of sanctioned oil that finances "narco-terrorism in the region."