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ON December 21, the US Coast Guard was reportedly chasing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, marking the second such operation this weekend and potentially the third in under two weeks if successful.

Several media houses, including Reuters, reported, citing US officials, that the guard was pursuing a sanctioned "dark fleet vessel" as part of efforts in what was described as "part of Venezuela's illegal sanctions evasion."

At 4.51 pm on December 20, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the second seizure in a post on X (formerly Twitter).