The Trump administration's push to seize and pursue sanctioned oil tankers connected to Venezuela is designed to cut off the money that sustains the Maduro government and its trafficking networks, not to grab oil, retired U.S. Navy Capt. Brent Sadler said Sunday on Newsmax.
"Well, the Democrats on that point are absolutely wrong," Sadler told Newsmax's "Sunday Agenda." "It's actually about going after the money and the support structure of this illegal regime, the Maduro regime in Venezuela, that's just continued to drive that country into a socialist hell to go after the cartels."
"It's going to take more than just a few weeks or a few months," he added.
Earlier on Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard pursued another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, coming after the administration said on Saturday it seized a tanker for the second time in less than two weeks.
Sadler said the administration's approach is aimed at dismantling a long-running business model and will require sustained operations beyond a short burst of enforcement.
"It's going to take probably a lot more months to actually cut out their business model, destroy their business, their money-making ability, and take out these drug boats both in the Eastern Pacific and, of course, in the Caribbean," said Sadler.
The oil, he added, "is another piece of the puzzle."
"That's another major cash market for the illicit regime, and you're seeing these interdictions not just in the Caribbean," said Sadler, pointing to the Iranian regime's efforts to acquire Chinese weapons.
That makes the administration's efforts a global attempt to stop "this illicit dark fleet that's not just supporting the Maduro regime," said Sadler.
"What you're seeing here is going to be just the beginning. And I think the pace is going to pick up," he said.
Sadler also framed the tanker seizures as part of a broader strategy that reaches beyond Venezuela, saying oil shipments can feed other U.S. adversaries and complicate global trade.
"Well, it's bigger than the Maduro regime, so I have to state that up front, because much of this oil is going to support the Iranian regime," said Sader. "It's also funneling money to Russia's war effort in Ukraine by facilitating the transfer and the sales of this illicit oil to China and other countries, some of them which are our partners and friends."
The ship seizures could deter eventual customers, because if they see "that it's dangerous to do trade there or to buy this Venezuelan oil, they're going to look elsewhere," said Sadler.
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