Unclassified video from U.S. Southern Command shows the Motor Vessel Sagitta, a Venezuelan-linked oil tanker that was seized by U.S. forces. Jan. 20, 2026. U.S. Southern Command

The United States on Tuesday morning seized another oil tanker linked to Venezuela, U.S. Southern Command said, its seventh such seizure.

U.S. forces "apprehended Motor Vessel Sagitta without incident," U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America, said in a social media post.

It said the tanker was "operating in defiance of President Trump's established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean" and that the action "demonstrates our resolve to ensure that the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully."

The social media post included unclassified aerial video of the Sagitta. The details of the operation and the next steps involving the ship were not immediately provided.

According to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Sagitta is a Panamanian-flagged vessel and is owned by Sunne Co Limited, which also owns several other U.S.-sanctioned vessels. It was allegedly part of a shadow fleet of vessels that transport oil from sanctioned nations such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, the Treasury Department said.

The U.S. has seized seven Venezuelan-linked oil tankers since Dec. 10, 2025. Six of the seizures have occurred in the Caribbean region, and one in the North Atlantic.

After last year building up a heavy U.S. military presence in the Caribbean, U.S. forces earlier this month entered Venezuela and captured embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The couple was brought to New York, where they are facing charges accusing them of drug trafficking and working with cartels. They have denied the charges.

Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world, which the Trump administration is seeking to convince American oil companies to invest in. The first U.S. sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at approximately $500 million, was completed last week, a U.S. official told CBS News.

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