The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to permanently seize the motor tanker Skipper and its cargo of about 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil. This action is part of a wider effort by Washington to crack down on oil shipments linked to Iran and Venezuela's shadow fleet network.
The complaint, submitted in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., claims that both the vessel and its cargo could be forfeited for providing support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Qods Force, which the U.S. has labeled as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
U.S. authorities seized the Skipper off the coast of Venezuela on December 10, 2025, after it was discovered that the vessel was operating without a nationality and falsely claiming to fly a Guyanese flag. Post-seizure, the tanker and its cargo were moved to waters near Texas.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated that this case highlights the administration's ongoing commitment to disrupting oil revenue streams that sustain sanctioned regimes.
The complaint alleges that the Skipper has been involved in evading sanctions since at least 2021. Prosecutors claim that the ship transported crude oil from both Iran and Venezuela, employing tactics commonly used by shadow fleet operators, such as ship-to-ship transfers, manipulating its AIS signals, and changing flags to hide its movements.
In 2024 alone, the tanker is said to have delivered approximately three million barrels of Iranian crude to Syria. Additionally, it reportedly loaded oil from Iran at least twice in 2025 before its detention.
Previously, the vessel had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on November 3, 2022, while it was operating under the name Adisa, as part of a broader initiative against Iranian oil smuggling.
Before the seizure, the Skipper had loaded around 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil at Venezuela’s José Terminal in November 2025. Shipping documents mentioned in the complaint indicate that approximately 1.1 million barrels were destined for Cubametales, Cuba’s state-run oil import-export company, which has faced U.S. sanctions since 2019.
The seizure of the Skipper is part of a larger U.S. enforcement campaign targeting tankers transporting sanctioned oil. This effort has intensified since President Trump announced a “complete blockade” on sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela in mid-December.
Recently, U.S. forces boarded the sanctioned tanker Bertha in the Indian Ocean, marking the tenth vessel linked to Venezuela that has been intercepted since December. Other tankers that have been seized include Veronica, Olina, M Sophia, and Marinera, demonstrating the increasing frequency of U.S. maritime enforcement actions from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean.
Officials emphasize that this initiative aims to dismantle the logistics networks enabling stateless or falsely flagged tankers to transport crude oil outside official trading systems.
The case is under investigation by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, with prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, National Security Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia overseeing the forfeiture process.
As with all civil forfeiture cases, the allegations in this filing must be proven in court.