Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro accused the United States of "kidnapping" the crew of a seized oil tanker, escalating tensions between the countries after U.S. federal agencies carried out a maritime operation targeting a vessel accused of transporting sanctioned crude from Venezuela and Iran.
U.S. officials said the tanker (identified as the Skipper) was seized by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Coast Guard. According to satellite data, the ship attempted to mask its location by transmitting false coordinates.
