U.S. Blockades Sanctioned Oil Tankers in Venezuela. Iran Deserves the Same Treatment

The waters off the shores of President Nicolas Maduro’s Bolivarian Republic are getting choppy for the dictator. After the U.S. Coast Guard seized the Skipper, a Venezuelan supertanker, on December 10, the Trump administration declared a blockade against all of the country’s sanctioned oil tankers.

The move, coming after months of U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean and kinetic strikes on alleged drug boats, is the most impactful action against Caracas of President Donald Trump’s second term. A successful, targeted blockade would cripple the Maduro regime, which depends heavily on illicit oil sales. It also provides a blueprint for how to enforce sanctions on Iran.

Tensions Sharpen in the Caribbean

Since the beginning of President Trump’s second term, the U.S. has taken an increasingly hard line on what it considers to be Maduro’s illegitimate rule. Almost immediately upon taking office, Trump signed Executive Order 14157, which ordered the United States to treat Western Hemisphere drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. He later designated major Venezuelan crime syndicate Tren de Aragua, specifically.

After months of calling for Maduro to resign, the United States began applying military pressure with Operation Southern Spear and the largest naval buildup in the Caribbean since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. In addition to guided missile destroyers and cruisers, the U.S.S. Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group and an Amphibious Ready Group, with its embarked Marine Expeditionary Unit, have been deployed in the area. The United States has also hit a number of speedboats allegedly carrying drugs, sinking them and killing their crews. The seizure of the sanctioned supertanker Skipper marks a new phase in this conflict, one that strikes at the lifeblood of the regime.

All of Venezuela’s Sanctioned Tankers Are Now Targets

According to TankerTrackers, there are currently 75 tankers in Venezuelan waters. Of these, 20 are carrying crude oil, and 13 are carrying fuel oil. Seventeen of 38 total sanctioned tankers appear to be preparing to depart Venezuela. Eight of these departing vessels are laden: six with crude oil and two with fuel oil.

Venezuela’s exports are dominated by oil and oil products. Venezuelan state-run Petroleos de Venezuela’s oil sales abroad in 2024 stood at $17.52 billion, according to Reuters, out of the country’s total goods and services exports of $20.2 billion in 2024. Due to the illicit nature of Venezuela’s oil trade, it is challenging to determine the exact revenue generated. However, oil and oil products account for approximately 80 to 88 percent of Venezuela’s total exports. Significant disruption of this export can lead to the financial collapse of Maduro’s regime.

A Lesson Learned in Venezuela Can Be Applied to Iran

Iran, Russia, China, and Venezuela use the global ghost fleet. For example, the Skipper was in Iran earlier this year and left the Kharg Island oil terminal transporting around 2 million barrels to China. If the U.S. maritime blockade of Venezuela succeeds and persists, many of these tankers will be unable to supply oil to Washington’s primary adversaries.

The United States should continue its efforts to confiscate tankers in Venezuela and expand these efforts to Iran. In the first 11 months of 2025, Tehran exported 1.82 million barrels per day, while Venezuela exported 900,000 barrels per day of oil and fuel oil. Both countries are under sanctions, but sanctions are only effective when they are properly enforced.

Throughout 2025, hundreds of ghost fleet ships facilitated the illicit oil trade. A robust confiscation campaign could put an end to this trade, which benefits only U.S. adversaries.

Saeed Ghasseminejad is a senior Iran and financial economics advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Samuel Ben-Ur is a research analyst. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Saeed on X @SGhasseminejad. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security.