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Trump says U.S. seized oil tanker near Venezuela

admin - Latest News - December 10, 2025
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President Donald Trump told reporters the U.S. military seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The move comes as his administration continues to escalate the U.S. military presence in the region. 



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Oct. 8, 2025, 5:08 AM EDT / Updated Oct. 8, 2025, 5:26 AM EDTBy Freddie ClaytonPresident Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will join Gaza ceasefire talks in Egypt on Wednesday, as Hamas said the two sides had taken an initial step toward a key point of the U.S. plan to end the devastating war. The arrival of the U.S. delegation, as well as the leader of mediator Qatar, comes after a second day of indirect talks as Israel and Palestinians mourned the two-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks and the brutal conflict that has followed. Hamas released a statement Wednesday saying that a list of Palestinian prisoners who would be released under a deal had been provided to Israel. “The mediators are making great efforts to remove any obstacles to implementing the ceasefire, and a spirit of optimism prevails among all,” the militant group said. The release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza and of 1,950 Palestinian prisoners are key parts of Trump’s 20-peace proposal.Israel has not yet commented on the Hamas statement.Top Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya said Tuesday that the group had come “to engage in serious and responsible negotiations.”Hamas was ready to reach a deal, but needed a “guarantee” to end the war and ensure “it is not repeated,” he told Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV.Israel has pressed ahead with an aerial and ground assault on Gaza City amid the talks.Anadolu via Getty ImagesAn Israeli army soldier at the October 7 attacks memorial at the Nova Festival grounds in southern Israel on Tuesday.John Wessels / AFP via Getty ImagesIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks, but told Israelis Tuesday they were in “fateful days of decision.”Trump expressed optimism about the talks, telling reporters in Washington there was “a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East.”Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani is also set to join the talks, which are taking place in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.Qatar wants international guarantees, led by the U.S., that what is negotiated in Egypt will lead to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, the entry of more aid, and a permanent end to the war, foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told Saudi Arabian news channel al-Hadath on Tuesday. Israel has continued its assault on Gaza while the talks have been taking place. Its military campaign has killed more than 67,000 people, reducing much of the enclave to rubble following the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages.There were somber gatherings across Israel on Tuesday to mark the attacks, including in the country’s south where families and friends paid respects to the more than 370 victims killed at the Nova music festival.Palestinians, meanwhile, reflected on two years of brutal conflict and their hopes for an end to the devastation.Alaa Abu Daraz.NBC NewsAlaa Abu Daraz and her children left their home in eastern Gaza on October 7, and two years later they are yet to return, living on the streets as they seek safety.“Our children are left in the streets, with no tent, no shelter, not even a blanket,” she told NBC News this week. “We managed through the summer and survived the heat, but the winter is unbearable; one cannot live or do anything in these conditions.”Israel has faced mounting global isolation over its assault. A new aid flotilla bound for Gaza that included a number of Americans was intercepted by the Israeli army Wednesday, days after the detention of activists on board a high-profile flotilla fueled international outrage.Eight U.S. citizens were “likely abducted” by Israeli forces while on international waters, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said Wednesday.Freddie ClaytonFreddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London. 
November 27, 2025
Nov. 27, 2025, 11:30 AM ESTBy Gordon Lubold, Courtney Kube, Mosheh Gains and Katherine DoyleWASHINGTON — Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was planning a trip to Kyiv to discuss drone technology with his Ukrainian counterparts when his mission suddenly got more complex. President Donald Trump was upgrading his role, Driscoll was told, to include international diplomat.The decision has thrust Driscoll to the forefront of the most vexing foreign policy challenge that Trump, by his own admission, has faced since he took office: ending the nearly four-year-long war in Ukraine. It’s a high-stakes foray for Driscoll, a former Army Ranger and financier, that has elevated his profile and fueled speculation inside and outside the Trump administration about where he might land next.This account of Driscoll’s diplomatic activities and how the administration came to trust him is based on interviews with four current U.S. officials and two former U.S. officials. For more than a week, Driscoll has crisscrossed Europe, shuttling from Kyiv to Geneva to lead talks with Ukrainian and other European officials. And he made a secret trip to the Middle East to meet with the Russians. All the while, he has socialized elements of the U.S.-backed peace plan crafted by Trump’s closest advisers.Driscoll flew from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on Wednesday to meet with Vice President JD Vance, who was there to address troops, and he is expected to again meet with Ukrainian officials.A senior administration official said Driscoll was tapped for Ukraine negotiations because Trump trusts him and because it was convenient given he was already scheduled to be in Kyiv for discussions about drones.Driscoll, who is also the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was hoisted into Trump’s orbit by Vance, his close friend. The two men are former Yale Law School students and military veterans.Driscoll, 39, a North Carolina native, served in Iraq in 2009 before he attended Yale and then worked in finance. Since his Senate confirmation in February, he has been focused on helping transform the Army by pushing to eliminate some weapons seen in the military as sacred cows and adding some new ones that are cheaper and easier to buy, moves intended to make the Army more relevant and “lethal,” he has said publicly.That effort has had its challenges, as some lawmakers worry Driscoll’s proposed changes could result in jobs leaving their districts and states. But Republicans and Democrats alike have praised him as sincere and accessible, and he has many lawmakers on speed-dial, according to two U.S. officials.Driscoll has no formal diplomatic background. But the two U.S. officials said he has been given latitude from the highest echelons of the White House to carry Trump’s message.“People know he’s operating with the intent of the vice president, and the VP is synced up with the president,” one of the U.S. officials said of Driscoll.“In the midst of conversations, he can be making decisions to go the next step or not without hesitation because he knows and trusts that he’s within the intent,” the official said. “He knows where the red lines are and where to keep going.”At Vance’s urging this month, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff asked Driscoll to talk about a peace deal while he was meeting with the Ukrainians during his trip to Kyiv, according to one of the previously mentioned U.S. officials and two additional U.S. officials.It was ultimately Trump who said he wanted Driscoll to be part of his impromptu peace effort, those three U.S. officials said. Trump wasn’t deterred by Driscoll’s lack of diplomatic experience, having already embraced unconventional diplomacy by tapping his friend and fellow businessman Witkoff to lead his peace efforts in the Middle East and Ukraine.Trump is known to refer to Driscoll as “drone guy,” one of those U.S. officials said, because of his expertise in the technology. He also has praised him publicly.“What a job he’s doing, this guy,” Trump said of Driscoll in September at an Oval Office event announcing the deployment of National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee.“Look at that nice face, and yet he’s a killer,” Trump added. “Nice, beautiful face, and he’s a total killer. I don’t know how you do it, huh?”“Lotion, sir,” Driscoll joked.The idea behind sending Driscoll was that as a military leader with the backing of the White House, he could look the Ukrainians in the eye, perhaps with more credibility than a conventional government diplomat, and persuade them it was time for peace, the three U.S. officials said.Witkoff read Driscoll in on the broad strokes of the peace deal he had assembled, though Driscoll wasn’t briefed on the specifics of the 28-point plan before he arrived in Kyiv, according to two of the U.S. officials. Elements of the plan were leaked to the media while Driscoll was engaged in informal talks in Kyiv, the two officials said. That leak and initial signs of momentum in the discussions between Driscoll and the Ukrainians prompted White House officials to decide to brief Driscoll on the 28-point plan, those U.S. officials said. Driscoll was then instructed to brief the 28-point plan to the Ukrainians, the officials said.In tasking Driscoll with peace negotiations in Kyiv, Trump’s hope was that he could lay important groundwork with the Ukrainians before Witkoff or Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the national security adviser, got more deeply involved, the three U.S. officials said. The process has since evolved into a series of ongoing negotiations that have both drawn criticism that they favor Russia and raised hopes of a potential deal.The momentum Driscoll has helped build in recent days has raised questions inside and outside the administration about whether he could be on a short list to succeed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should he depart sometime next year, according to the three current U.S. officials and two former U.S. officials. Some of Trump’s top aides don’t trust Hegseth to lead on such sensitive and potentially consequential negotiations, according to two of the current U.S. officials and one of the former U.S. officials. Trump is fond of Hegseth despite the secretary making a series of errors since he began leading the Defense Department, including pausing aid to Ukraine without informing Congress or the State Department and sharing sensitive information about a military operation in a group chat on the Signal messaging app, according to four of the current and former officials and two people familiar with the matter.The senior administration official pushed back against the idea that Driscoll is in any way being positioned to succeed Hegseth. The official said Hegseth needed to be in Washington to brief Trump on his fight against drug cartels, manage the relationship between the United States and China and attend Trump’s intelligence briefings. Hegseth, the official said, is overseeing the sale of weaponry to NATO for Ukraine and has engaged in various conversations with the Ukrainians. “Secretary Driscoll’s role has evolved because he was going to be in Ukraine for talks on drone technology and war fighting capabilities anyway, and so it made sense to just tap him to have these conversations with the Ukrainians at this time, frankly, out of pure convenience and because, again, he is a trusted player on the president’s team,” the official said. “Secretary Hegseth is also beloved by the president, and the president has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth.” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, “The secretary has built an all-star team at the Department of War, and we are proud of our many accomplishments.”One of the U.S. officials described Driscoll, who has held a much lower-profile role than Hegseth, as “trusted, liked and respected” in the administration and in Congress.When he arrived in Kyiv on Nov. 19, his message for the Ukrainians was simple, according to two of the U.S. officials.The officials said Driscoll told the Ukrainians that unlike in the past — when the United States would reject Ukraine’s requests for weaponry, expanded intelligence or other assistance, only to later approve such requests — this time was different. He said the United States couldn’t continue to provide Kyiv with more weaponry at the same rate it has been, given American stockpiles are depleting and supplies are starting to run out, according to the officials.He also delivered a grim U.S. assessment on the war: that while the Russian military’s progress is slow, its ability to keep fighting could continue long past the Ukrainian military’s ability to keep fighting, with or without American and European support, NBC News has reported.Driscoll’s message to the Ukrainians wasn’t so much a finger in the chest as it was pragmatic, two of the U.S. officials said.“He didn’t tell the Ukrainians anything they didn’t already know,” one of the officials said.Driscoll and other U.S. officials then made an unannounced trip to Geneva for more meetings with the Ukrainians. Delegations from some European nations, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, also visited Geneva to support Ukrainian efforts. Driscoll’s boyish exuberance that administration officials describe behind the scenes was on display as he turned to fist-bump an aide after a news conference he joined there with Ukrainian officials, Rubio, Witkoff and Trump’s outside adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.Driscoll appeared after several days of negotiations to have secured assurances, at least from the Ukrainians, that the outlines of a peace plan in its current form were potentially acceptable.The next day, Driscoll was secretly flying to Abu Dhabi to meet with a Russian delegation about a potential peace plan, albeit one that now had been somewhat altered in favor of Ukrainian interests.Russian officials haven’t voiced support for the current plan. Trump said Tuesday that Witkoff and possibly Kushner are set to travel to Russia next week for negotiations.He also said his Army secretary-turned-diplomat will hold additional meetings with the Ukrainians.Gordon LuboldGordon Lubold is a national security reporter for NBC News.Courtney KubeCourtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.Mosheh GainsI am NBC News’ producer & off-air reporter covering stories about and related to the Defense Department around the world.Katherine DoyleKatherine Doyle is a White House reporter for NBC News.
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