The official said the ship had been previously linked to the smuggling of Iranian oil — a global black market that the Justice Department has been investigating for years. The vessel was sailing under the flag of another Latin American nation in which it was not registered, the official said, and its ultimate destination was Asia.
A federal judge issued a seizure warrant roughly two weeks ago because of the ship’s past activities smuggling Iranian oil, not because of links to the Maduro government, the official said. Prosecutors have said that Iran uses money generated from oil sales to finance its military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which the United States has designated a terrorist entity.
You can argue that the US is increasing pressure on Maduro (good, we don't like dictators working with China, Russia, and Iran, right?) but I think the headline is a bit too strong given this background.
For context, here’s an old article about how he kept asking his advisors about actions against Venezuela throughout his first term. Old flames never die.
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