US seizes two tankers as Trump widens oil grab and says Venezuela will buy American goods with proceeds from oil sale – live | US foreign policy

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US seizes two tankers as Trump widens oil grab and says Venezuela will buy American goods with proceeds from oil sale – live | US foreign policy

Trumps says Venezuela will ‘only’ buy US goods with proceeds from oil sale under new deal

Donald Trump has said in a post on his Truth Social platform that Venezuela will be purchasing American-made products with the money they receive from the new deal arranged with his administration.

I have just been informed that Venezuela is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive from our new Oil Deal. These purchases will include, among other things, American Agricultural Products, and American Made Medicines, Medical Devices, and Equipment to improve Venezuela’s Electric Grid and Energy Facilities.

In other words, Venezuela is committing to doing business with the United States of America as their principal partner — A wise choice, and a very good thing for the people of Venezuela, and the United States.

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Updated at 17.41 EST

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Trump signs proclamation withdrawing from international organizations, White House says

Donald Trump has also signed a proclamation withdrawing the United States from 35 non-United Nations organizations and 31 UN entities that “operate contrary to U.S. national interests,” the White House said in a statement. It did not list the organizations.

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Trumps says Venezuela will ‘only’ buy US goods with proceeds from oil sale under new deal

Donald Trump has said in a post on his Truth Social platform that Venezuela will be purchasing American-made products with the money they receive from the new deal arranged with his administration.

I have just been informed that Venezuela is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive from our new Oil Deal. These purchases will include, among other things, American Agricultural Products, and American Made Medicines, Medical Devices, and Equipment to improve Venezuela’s Electric Grid and Energy Facilities.

In other words, Venezuela is committing to doing business with the United States of America as their principal partner — A wise choice, and a very good thing for the people of Venezuela, and the United States.

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Updated at 17.41 EST

The day so far

  • The US seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in two separate missions in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.

  • After a two-week pursuit, US forces boarded the Russian-flagged Marinera – originally known as the Bella 1 – over alleged sanctions violations, in a high-stakes operation that could risk confrontation with the Kremlin after Moscow reportedly dispatched a submarine to safeguard the vessel.

  • The UK confirmed it provided assistance for the seizure of the Marinera, with the RAF providing extra surveillance and navy refuelling while capture under way. The UK argued the operation was legal and justified because the “stateless” vessel had breached US sanctions on Iran. The UK’s support was “in full compliance with international law”, defence secretary John Healey said.

  • However, Russia said the seizure had violated maritime law after claiming it had given the vessel permission to fly the Russian flag a month ago.

  • Meanwhile the US Coast Guard said it had separately intercepted another dark-fleet tanker that is under sanctions, the M Sophia, in a pre-dawn operation in the Caribbean.

  • The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed that the Marinera crew members were now subject to prosecution and could be transferred to the US “if necessary”.

  • The Russian foreign ministry demanded the US ensure the humane and dignified treatment of Russian citizens onboard the Marinera and guarantee their swift return to Russia.

  • Ukraine’s foreign minister said Kyiv welcomed the seizure of the tanker, adding it was a good example of how to act against Moscow and said it showcased “President Trump’s resolute leadership”. “We welcome such an approach to dealing with Russia: act, not fear. This is also relevant to the peace process and bringing a lasting peace closer,” Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.

  • On Venezuela, the White House also claimed that oil from the country would arrive in the US “very soon”, following Trump’s announcement of a deal with Caracas to get access to up to $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude.

  • But Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA said that it is progressing in negotiations with the US for oil sales, as a board member for the company told Reuters the US will need to buy cargoes at international prices. “If they want to buy it, they will have it in due time, sold at the international price,” PDVSA board member Wills Rangel told Reuters. “Not the way [Trump] intends, as if that oil belongs to them because we supposedly owe them. We do not owe anything to the United States.”

  • US secretary of state Marco Rubio told reporters that the US “is not winging it” in Venezuela and that the Trump administration has a long-term plan for the country. The three-step plan for Venezuela that will begin with stabilizing the country after US forces seized Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, overseeing the country’s recovery and finally a transition to a more representative form of government, Rubio told reporters.

  • Rubio also confirmed he would be meeting with Denmark next week to discuss Greenland.

  • Leavitt told reporters that the Trump administration was “actively discussing” the purchase of the island and while diplomacy was the first option, “all options are always on the table”. In a statement earlier in the day, Leavitt had added that “utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal”. She also said told reporters that the US controlling Greenland would deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic.

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‘We do not owe US anything’: Venezuelan oil company says negotiations ongoing

Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA has said that it is progressing in negotiations with the US for oil sales, as a board member for the company told Reuters the US will need to buy cargoes at international prices.

On Tuesday, Washington announced a deal with Caracas to get access to up to $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude, a sign that Venezuelan government officials are responding to Donald Trump’s demand that they open up to US oil companies or risk more military intervention.

Trump has said he wants interim Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez, installed this week after the US deposed Nicolás Maduro, to give the US and private companies “total access” to her country’s oil industry.

And earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Venezuelan oil would be arriving in the US “very soon”.

PDVSA said in a brief statement that the parties have been talking about similar terms as those in place with foreign partners such as Chevron, the company’s main joint venture partner, which currently controls all oil exports to the US.

The process … is based on strictly commercial transactions under terms that are legal, transparent and beneficial for both parties.

PDVSA board member Wills Rangel, who is also a union leader, told Reuters the US will need to buy cargoes at international prices if the country wants Venezuelan oil.

If they want to buy it, they will have it in due time, sold at the international price. Not the way [Trump] intends, as if that oil belongs to them because we supposedly owe them. We do not owe anything to the United States.

Chevron, which has a special US license to export Venezuelan crude despite sanctions, is the only company currently exporting crude from the country, Rangel added, as a US blockade on Venezuela keeps exports bound to China, the main destination of its oil, paralyzed.

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Updated at 16.17 EST

US authorities have released two videos filmed by the military following the separate seizures of the Sophia and Marinera oil tankers on Wednesday.

US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and US Southern Command posted the clips on X, which appear to show the US military intercepting a Venezuela-linked tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The footage was released on the same day US forces also intercepted and seized the Russian-flagged Marinera in the north Atlantic.

We have the clips here:

US seizes two oil tankers in international waters – videoShare

Marinera was ‘stateless vessel’ with ‘long history of nefarious activity’, says UK defence secretary, arguing mission was lawful

Dan Sabbagh

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it had provided military help to the US forces that seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker north-west of Britain and Ireland, initially arguing the operation was legal because the vessel had breached US sanctions on Iran.

John Healey, the defence secretary, said the UK had allowed US aircraft to use bases to prepare for and carry out the mission, while the RAF had provided extra surveillance and the navy refuelling while the final capture was under way.

Healey said British involvement was justified under international law because the Marinera, which was sailing from the Caribbean Sea towards Russia, had previously been placed under sanctions when it was known as the Bella 1.

“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” Healey said.

John Healey issuing a statement to MPs in the House of Commons on 7 January. Photograph: Parliament TV/PA

Later, Healey expanded the justification for the seizure. The tanker, he told MPs in the evening, had changed its name “five times in the last five years” and had been falsely flying the flag of Guyana when it was called Bella 1 and arrived in the Caribbean.

A “stateless” vessel, the defence secretary said, “may be lawfully intercepted and subjected to the law of the interdicting state”. Stateless ships are generally considered to be without protection under international law, although there is debate about the extent to which they can be boarded or seized.

The Marinera was also, the minister said, part “of an increasing web of shadow shipping that fuels and funds instability” and that “Russia operates a vast shadow fleet of its own to bankroll its illegal invasion of Ukraine”. Stopping such ships from trading covertly was hurting Russia’s war effort, he added.

The UK had decided to assist in response to a request from the US for help, the defence secretary said. But British forces only played a supporting role and no British forces took part in the boarding, Healey told MPs on Wednesday evening.

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Updated at 15.48 EST

Explainer: what are Trump’s real options for gaining control of Greenland?

By Jon Henley and Miranda Bryant

The Trump administration has said repeatedly that the US needs to gain control of Greenland, a mineral-rich, largely self-governing part of Denmark with foreign and security policy run from Copenhagen.

The White House has said using the US military is “always an option”, but few analysts believe an armed operation is likely and France’s foreign minister has said the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has ruled out the possibility of an invasion.

Here are five options Donald Trump has in order to take over Greenland:

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Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski told the Associated Press (AP) earlier that she hated “the rhetoric around either acquiring Greenland by purchase or by force,” adding, “I think that it is very, very unsettling.”

New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Nato Observer Group, said the US needs to honor its treaty obligations to Denmark, AP reported.

“Any suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow Nato ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend,” the senators said in a joint statement.

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Explainer: why so much interest in a rusty tanker in the Atlantic?

by Tural Ahmedzade, Harvey Symons, Oliver Holmes and Dan Sabbagh

A massive, rusty crude oil tanker floating north through the Atlantic has become the centre of global interest after it was followed for days and eventually seized by US forces while Russia’s military rushed towards it.

Despite not carrying any oil, the 300-metre-long ship is clearly of value. Theories for why range from speculation that high-value Russian weapons are hidden in the hull, to the ship’s potential to become a symbolic trophy in a transatlantic power struggle between Washington and Moscow.

Currently called the Marinera, the name-changing ship is part of the shadow or “ghost” fleets used by Russia, Iran and Venezuela to avoid western sanctions. For years these vessels have moved cargo and cheap fuel around the globe, including to China.

Washington and its European allies have long sought to crack down on the illicit maritime trade. Those efforts reached a critical point last month after Donald Trump imposed a naval blockade on sanctions-busting tankers operating near Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves and a key destination for shadow fleet vessels.

Read the full explainer at the link below:

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Rubio says US plan for Venezuela is stability, recovery, then transition

Further to his insistence that the US is “not winging it” in Venezuela, we have more details on what secretary of state Marco Rubio said earlier regarding the US’s plan for the country.

Rubio said the United States has a three-step plan for Venezuela that will begin with stabilizing the country after US forces seized Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, overseeing the country’s recovery and finally a transition to a more representative form of government, Reuters reports.

“We don’t want it descending into chaos,” said Rubio, after briefing US senators on the Trump administration’s plan for the country. He added that he was working with Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, and had spoken with her several times since the weekend’s raid in Caracas.

A tightened quarantine on Venezuelan oil would be central to that effort, he said:

We are in the midst right now and in fact about to execute on a deal to take all the oil. We are going to take between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil. We’re going to sell it in the marketplace at market rates, not at the discounts Venezuela was getting.

That money will then be handled in such a way that we will control how it is disbursed in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption, not the regime.

Rubio went on:

The second phase will be a phase that we call recovery, and that is ensuring that American, western and other companies have access to the Venezuelan market in a way that’s fair.

Also, at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela, so that the opposition forces can be amnestied and released and from prisons or brought back to the country, and begin to rebuild civil society.

And then the third phase, of course, will be one of transition.

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Ukraine welcomes US seizure of Russian-flagged tanker

Ukraine’s foreign minister has said that Kyiv welcomes the US seizure of the Marinera Russian-flagged tanker linked to Venezuela, adding that it showed Donald Trump’s “resolute leadership”.

“The apprehension of a Russian-flagged ship in the North Atlantic underscores the United States’ and President Trump’s resolute leadership,” Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.

“We welcome such an approach to dealing with Russia: act, not fear. This is also relevant to the peace process and bringing a lasting peace closer.”

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Updated at 14.02 EST

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