President Donald Trump speaks to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat in Washington DC, on Tuesday. Evan Vucci/APPresident Donald Trump declined to say in an interview Thursday if he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin after the United States seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean. US forces boarded and seized the tanker on Wednesday after a weekslong chase on the high seas that has escalated tensions with Moscow and piled further pressure on its ally Venezuela. Last month the US Coast Guard attempted to seize the vessel while it was heading to Venezuela to pick up oil, then operating under the flag of Guyana. But the ship’s crew refused to be boarded and made an abrupt turn into the Atlantic.

Source: CNN January 09, 2026 05:26 UTC