Donald Trump announced the US Coast Guard seized the oil tanker Skipper off Venezuela's coast, intensifying US pressure against Nicolás Maduro's government, while María Corina Machado recently received the Nobel Prize for her pro-democracy efforts in Venezuela.Attorney General Pam Bondi described the operation, which involved special operations forces and helicopters launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, as the largest tanker seizure ever, targeting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.Venezuela condemned the action as an act of international piracy, highlighting the
Skipper's prior sanctioning by the
US Treasury for funding groups like the
IRGC and
Hezbollah, linked to
Viktor Artemov.