U.S. Closing in on Third Oil Tanker Off Venezuelan Coast

The U.S. military is reportedly "in active pursuit" of a third reported oil tanker traveling in Caribbean waters. The pursuit follows the Dec. 20 pre-dawn raid of a second oil tanker in Caribbean waters.

The second tanker seized by U.S. authorities is a Panama-flagged oil tanker, ship-name, Centuries, reportedly owned by a Chinese-based oil trader.

The third tanker, however, is said to be "flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order", according to officials close to the matter.

Preliminary reports suggested that the U.S. military had already boarded and seized the third false-flag vessel on Sunday, until an official statement later clarified that authorities were "in active pursuit" of the vessel.

Following the second seizure, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem warned that the "United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you."

Administration officials in Washington announced shortly after the first seizure operation on Dec. 10 that authorities were following a list of sanctioned vessels, which are subject to seizure by authorities.

The operations are intended to apply pressure on the Maduro government in Venezuela, which is heavily reliant on the illicit sale of sanctioned oil products to U.S. adversaries in Cuba and Iran.

According to analysts, over 90% of Venezuela's export revenues are generated from the sale of oil.

The first vessel seized on Dec. 10, ship-name, Skipper, was being surveilled by U.S. intelligence agencies, suspected of links to an international illicit transport network distributing sanctioned oil.

The Cuban government in recent days has grown concerned about U.S. operations in Caribbean waters. Cuba, a client-state of the regime in Caracas, is dependent on the sale of subsidized Venezuelan oil.

People close to the White House say that socialist-hawk, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is honing in on restricting Venezuelan oil exports to also squeeze the government in Havana, as experts predict: if Maduro falls, so does Havana.