Claim:
A video in late 2025 authentically showed U.S. troops intercepting and seizing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
Rating:
Context
The footage in question showed a U.S. Marines training exercise from 2021, not the U.S. military seizing a ship off the coast of Venezuela. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in December 2025 did share different video footage of what she said was the actual seizure of a vessel.
On Dec. 10, 2025, U.S. commandos seized control of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The seizure came amidst U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to catch alleged drug smugglers and “narco-terrorists” from Venezuela by capturing oil tankers the U.S. government claimed was transporting “illicit oil” that supported “terrorist networks.” The Venezuelan government in turn said the U.S. was taking Venezuela’s energy resources in an act of piracy.
Purported footage of U.S. troops seizing control of the vessel spread online as a result.
The alleged footage showed U.S. troops in a boat, crossing a massive ship in water and stopping by a ladder, at which point a soldier begins climbing up into the ship. The video can be seen here (archived):
(X user @visionergeo)
The above footage is not an authentic video of U.S. troops taking over a vessel off the coast of Venezuela, though. The video actually shows a U.S. Marines training exercise from 2021. As such, we have rated this claim as miscaptioned.
We looked for the original source of the footage. Using screenshots from the above video and Google’s reverse-image search tool, we found a clip of the same footage from October 2025 with the title, “How Recon Marines Board a Moving Ship.”
We slowed the above footage to find the ship name was Lewis B. Puller. We also matched key moments in the miscaptioned clip in the X post with the original clip, and determined that the real footage had been clipped, inverted and color-adjusted with a yellow tint.
The original footage came from a March 19, 2021, clip from the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service — a U.S. Department of Defense service that provides media access to military materials and servicemen. The clip shows Marines and sailors conducting a Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) training exercise with the title, “15th MEU Marines, Sailors conduct VBSS training aboard USS Lewis B Puller.”
In December 2025 U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi did share video footage of what she said showed the actual seizure of an oil vessel that month. She wrote:
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely—and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.
Bondi’s footage showed U.S. soldiers lowering onto a ship using ropes from a helicopter and then moving through it via stairs. Officials told The Associated Press (AP) that helicopters took U.S. Coast Guard members to the oil tanker by helicopter. AP also reported the ship’s name was Skipper, and that it had allegedly been trying to obscure its whereabouts in the Caribbean, as well as conceal tens of millions of dollars of illicit crude oil it had been carrying.
We have covered numerous rumors about Venezuela and the U.S Navy’s efforts to strike boats in the Caribbean.
