Ships and Shipping

• U.S. Coast Guard Boards Tanker Carrying Venezuelan Oil - The vessel, which was flying a Panamanian flag, was not on a list of tankers under U.S. sanctions.
• Trump Relies on Distortions to Support His Pressure Campaign on Venezuela - The president has a long record of making false or misleading statements. But the sheer density of them in his administration’s boat attacks and Venezuela pressure campaign is exceptional.
• Venezuelan Navy Escorts Vessels in Defiance of Trump’s Blockade Threat - Pentagon officials, surprised by President Trump’s orders, scrambled to work out a plan to halt sanctioned tankers as Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s leader, vowed resistance.
• Tankers Under Sanction Are Only a Subset of Fleet Moving Venezuelan Oil - The scope of President Trump’s blockade against ships carrying oil from Venezuela was not clear on Wednesday.
• Venezuela Oil Tanker Seized by U.S. Was Part of Effort to Finance Cuba - Firms with ties to Cuba are getting a larger share of Venezuelan oil exports, as the island’s security agents boost President Nicolás Maduro’s defenses.
• A Seized Oil Tanker and the Big Business of Dark Fleet Smuggling - The U.S. seizure of a vessel off Venezuela is likely to squeeze the country’s government, but do little to counter the tankers that secretively move oil from sanctioned countries.
• Oil Tanker U.S. Seized Off Venezuela Has Faked Its Location Before, Data Shows - The ship has frequently carried oil from countries under U.S. sanctions, and its tracking data shows multiple recent trips to Iran and Venezuela.
• Trump Says U.S. Seized Oil Tanker Off Venezuelan Coast - The seizure comes as the United States builds up its forces in the Caribbean as part of a pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela.