The U.S. military is targeting a third oil tanker near Venezuela amid rising tensions. Niki Gunter. More Videos. Bondi Beach shooting hero receives $1.65 million check

The move comes days after the US president said that he was ordering a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

An elite unit of the Coast Guard seized control of a second tanker the U.S. said was carrying sanctioned oil in the waters off the coast of Venezuela. President Trump said he will not back down from his pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"Here's this falsely flagged Guyana ship purporting to be in a Guyana oil field. It's quite bizarre." The seizure is reportedly one way President Donald Trump is attempting to squeeze oil-dependent Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro,

CNN’s Kevin Liptak reports on the US pursuit of the sanctioned oil tanker Bella 1 in international waters near Venezuela after officials tried to intercept it.

U.S. ​President Donald Trump said ‌on Monday it would be smart for Venezuelan President ​Nicolas Maduro to leave power, and the United States could keep or sell the ‍oil it had seized ​off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks.

The US Coast Guard’s pursuit of a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela has intensified a blockade that the Trump administration hopes will cut off a vital economic lifeline and isolate the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

A U.S. official told ABC News that the Coast Guard tried to intercept a vessel tied to Venezuela’s “illegal sanctions evasion,” days after an oil tanker was seized off its coast.