WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that talks with North Korea were “going well” as US officials seek to reach an agreement with Pyongyang over a denuclearization plan following last month’s summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The White House has characterized ongoing meetings as positive but not commented on recent news reports of US intelligence assessments saying North Korea has been expanding its weapons capabilities.
In a Twitter post, Trump said that North Korea has conducted “no Rocket Launches or Nuclear Testing in 8 months.”
On Monday, the White House said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would travel to North Korea this week to continue talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
A US delegation met over the weekend with North Korean counterparts at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the next steps to implementing the June 12 summit’s declaration, according to the US State Department.
“Many good conversations with North Korea-it is going well!” Trump said in his Twitter post, echoing his sentiments following the historic meeting with Kim in Singapore.
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“The ghost fleets will not outrun justice. They will not hide under false claims of nationality,” Noem wrote on X, saying the Coast Guard carried out the seizure.
US Southern Command (Southcom), which is responsible for the country’s forces in the region, said US Marines and Navy personnel also took part in the operation, launching from the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
“Once again, our joint interagency forces sent a clear message this morning: ‘There is no safe haven for criminals,’” Southcom said in a post on X that included a video clip showing US forces roping down from a helicopter and taking control of the ship.
President Donald Trump later said the seizure was carried out in coordination with interim authorities in Venezuela after the ship departed the country without US approval.
“This tanker is now on its way back to Venezuela, and the oil will be sold,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said last month that he had ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil vessels heading to and from Venezuela, and American forces have taken control of five ships since then, including three this week.
Among them was a Russia-linked vessel that was seized in the North Atlantic on Wednesday in an operation condemned by Moscow, after being pursued by the United States from off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump told Fox News on Thursday that the tanker seized the previous day was being escorted by a Russian submarine and a destroyer.
“They both left very quickly when we arrived and we took over the ship,” the US president said, declining to specify if his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin called him after the seizure.
Trump: North Korea talks ‘going well’
Trump: North Korea talks ‘going well’
US says it seized another tanker that tried to break Venezuela blockade
- The latest vessel seized was the Olina, which US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said was “another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship”
- “The ghost fleets will not outrun justice,” Noem wrote on X
WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday it seized another tanker that tried to break an American naval blockade aimed at preventing sanctioned vessels from going to or departing Venezuela, the fifth ship apprehended in recent weeks.
Washington has deployed a huge naval force in the Caribbean, striking boats it says were used for drug trafficking, seizing tankers and carrying out a stunning operation to seize Venezuela’s leftist leader.
The latest vessel seized was the Olina, which US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said was “another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil” that “departed Venezuela attempting to evade US forces.”
“The ghost fleets will not outrun justice. They will not hide under false claims of nationality,” Noem wrote on X, saying the Coast Guard carried out the seizure.
US Southern Command (Southcom), which is responsible for the country’s forces in the region, said US Marines and Navy personnel also took part in the operation, launching from the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
“Once again, our joint interagency forces sent a clear message this morning: ‘There is no safe haven for criminals,’” Southcom said in a post on X that included a video clip showing US forces roping down from a helicopter and taking control of the ship.
President Donald Trump later said the seizure was carried out in coordination with interim authorities in Venezuela after the ship departed the country without US approval.
“This tanker is now on its way back to Venezuela, and the oil will be sold,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said last month that he had ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil vessels heading to and from Venezuela, and American forces have taken control of five ships since then, including three this week.
Among them was a Russia-linked vessel that was seized in the North Atlantic on Wednesday in an operation condemned by Moscow, after being pursued by the United States from off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump told Fox News on Thursday that the tanker seized the previous day was being escorted by a Russian submarine and a destroyer.
“They both left very quickly when we arrived and we took over the ship,” the US president said, declining to specify if his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin called him after the seizure.
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