U.S. uses military force to seize oil and strangle Venezuela’s economy

Another line has been crossed in the U.S. imperialist assault on Venezuela.

By seizing oil tankers on the high seas, including a Russian-flagged vessel, the United States has moved from economic warfare to open military coercion in defense of monopoly control over oil.

This is not a misunderstanding at sea. It is not a law enforcement action or a dispute over paperwork or flags. It is imperialism acting in the open.

Trump has also threatened a “second strike” against Venezuela, warning that further military action will follow if the government does not submit fully to U.S. demands.

Seizing oil by force

U.S. military forces have boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in international waters, escalating Washington’s assault on Venezuela and discarding the legal restraints that once served as cover. The vessel, renamed Marinera after operating as the Bella-1, was taken after a pursuit that stretched from the Caribbean into the North Atlantic. 

Helicopters and Coast Guard ships carried out the seizure. Russian officials say the tanker was under submarine escort.

This was not an accident. It was a test of power.

U.S. forces first stopped the tanker on Dec. 21, claiming a seizure warrant because the ship allegedly lacked a valid national flag. The crew refused to be boarded and sailed on. Washington responded not with diplomacy but with pursuit across oceans. During the chase, the vessel was formally registered under the Russian flag, and Moscow demanded that the United States stand down.

The demand was ignored.

The seizure did not take place near Venezuela, but in international waters between Scotland and Iceland. Even the New York Times described the operation as part of a Trump administration blockade of Venezuelan oil shipments, confirming that Washington is enforcing control far beyond the region itself.

Russian officials called the seizure what it is: piracy. They cited the principle of freedom of navigation on the high seas, a principle Washington invokes when it serves imperialist interests and discards when it does not. U.S. officials told Reuters there was no direct confrontation with Russian forces nearby. That absence should not reassure anyone. It only means the clash did not happen this time.

Militarizing the blockade

On the same day, U.S. forces seized a second tanker, the M/T Sophia, reportedly carrying roughly two million barrels of Venezuelan crude. The U.S. Southern Command released a video of troops descending from helicopters, edited to look like a promotional reel. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem summed it up in a slogan: “America first at sea.”

That phrase is not rhetoric. It is policy.

Washington is now enforcing a naval blockade in all but name, using military force to decide who may sell oil, who may transport it, and which governments are allowed to function. The mask has fallen from the operation, because the president himself removed it.

Force in service of oil profits

Donald Trump has said openly that the goal is to “get the oil flowing” so that “very large United States oil companies” can enter Venezuela and “start making money.” He has admitted to briefing oil executives before and after military action and plans meetings with them to discuss “security guarantees.” This is the U.S. government acting exactly as capitalism requires: using military force as the armed instrument of monopoly capital.

Trump has gone further, promising U.S. oil corporations that the government will cover or guarantee the costs of “rebuilding” Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, assuring executives that “they’ll do very well.” While social programs are slashed at home, tens of billions are being lined up to secure corporate access to seized oil fields.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the objective explicit, saying the United States intends to seize and sell between 30 million and 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil and control how the proceeds are distributed. This is not sanctions enforcement but a direct claim to administer another country’s resources by force.

Colonial administration by decree

U.S. officials have now stated openly that Washington intends to control Venezuelan oil sales and the revenues they generate indefinitely, not as a temporary sanction. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the United States will first market oil already in storage and then oversee future production, with proceeds deposited into accounts controlled by the U.S. government. 

President Trump has said Venezuela would be allowed to use those funds only to purchase “American-made” goods. These statements strip away any remaining pretense of sanctions enforcement. What is being asserted is the direct rule of imperialist monopoly capital over another country’s natural resources, enforced by military power. Oil production, sales, and revenue distribution are to be subordinated to U.S. corporate interests, with the state acting openly as their armed administrator.

There is no mystery here. Sanctions and pressure drive down the value of a country’s resources. Investors move in to grab them cheap. Military force is used to clear the way. The president has now said this openly.

This is not a show of strength. It is imperialism in decline. As it loses control, it turns to force, accepts greater risks, and pushes toward open confrontation. Law does not restrain it.

The danger does not stop with Venezuela. The seizure of a Russian-flagged tanker is not a side issue. It shows U.S. imperialism using military force against anyone who interferes with its drive to control oil and enforce its domination of global energy flows.

“Imperialism does not merely ignore law; it now openly announces its intention to replace it. When its interests are threatened, it turns openly to force in defense of profit. What is happening in the Caribbean and the Atlantic is not an exception. It is a measure of how far U.S. imperialism will go to hold onto control.