{"id":8295,"date":"2025-12-11T20:38:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T02:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=8295"},"modified":"2025-12-16T22:23:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T04:23:58","slug":"8295","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2025\/12\/11\/8295\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iranintl.com\/en\/202512115535\">\u201cIran&#8217;s Khamenei suggests US moves on Venezuela aim at oil, land grab,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 12-11-25.\u00a0\u00a0The Ayatollah\u2019s proposition\u2014that the U.S. is out to steal Venezuela\u2019s resources and land, is easily testable.\u00a0 Intrepid reporters and observers can simply watch what happens.\u00a0 My money\u2019s on the U.S.\u2014they don\u2019t have a history of taking in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, etc., etc.<\/p>\n<p>This story is a reminder that when you read about the U.S. v. Venezuela, you are actually reading U.S. v. Iran.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/tanker-seized-us-venezuela-iranian-shadow-fleet\/33620478.html\">\u201cTanker Seized By US Off Venezuela Was Part Of Iranian Shadow Fleet,\u201d<\/a> RFE\/RL, 12-11-25.<\/p>\n<p>Probably in hiding in Lebanon with Hezbollah, facilitated by Iran.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/middle-east\/hunt-for-assads-brutal-enforcer-23d31f08?mod=hp_lead_pos8\">\u201cThe Hunt for Assad\u2019s Brutal Enforcer,\u201d<\/a> WSJ, 12-11-25.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is rare but not unprecedented for the U.S. to seize a ship in international waters. The Trump administration in 2020 seized four vessels allegedly loaded with Iranian fuel in violation of sanctions. A federal judge approved a warrant for at least one of those seizures, saying Justice Department prosecutors had provided enough evidence that the tanker and its fuel were assets of a designated terrorist organization. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the tanker, the Skipper, had been sanctioned for carrying Iranian oil in the past and would be taken to a U.S. port. She said U.S. forces executed a warrant for the Skipper, and that investigators were interviewing its crew.\u201d\u00a0 See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/americas\/seizure-of-venezuelan-oil-strikes-at-the-heart-of-maduros-grip-on-power-2d2352c8?mod=hp_lead_pos1\">\u201cSeizure of Venezuelan Oil Strikes at the Heart of Maduro\u2019s Grip on Power,\u201d<\/a> WSJ, 12-11-25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIran&#8217;s Khamenei suggests US moves on Venezuela aim at oil, land grab,\u201d Iran International, 12-11-25.\u00a0\u00a0The Ayatollah\u2019s proposition\u2014that the U.S. is out to steal Venezuela\u2019s resources and land, is easily testable.\u00a0 Intrepid reporters and observers can simply watch what happens.\u00a0 My money\u2019s on the U.S.\u2014they don\u2019t have a history of taking in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, etc., &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2025\/12\/11\/8295\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2819,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-update"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2819"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8295"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8310,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295\/revisions\/8310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}