Since December, the U.S. has been stopping and seizing oil tankers traveling in and out of Venezuela. They are part of what is known as a ghost fleet — tankers that try to secretly move oil around the world, funding states such as Venezuela, Iran and Russia.Christiaan Triebert, a reporter on the Visual Investigations team, explains what these ghost fleets are and why their days might now be numbered.Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/christiaan-triebert" target="_blank">Christiaan Triebert</a>, a reporter for The New York Times working on the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/visual-investigations" target="_blank">Visual Investigations</a> team.Background reading: <ul><li>U.S. forces seized its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/us/politics/oil-tanker-seized-venezuela.html" target="_blank">sixth oil tanker linked to Venezuela</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/world/americas/ghost-fleet-ships.html" target="_blank">What are “ghost fleet” ships</a>?</li></ul>Photo: Andy Buchanan/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFor more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 
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