Venezuela envió su primer cargamento de petróleo crudo a Israel en varios años, tras la captura del dictador narco Nicolás Maduro y luego de que Estados Unidos anunciara que asumirá la gestión de las ventas internacionales de crudo venezolano, de acuerdo con información publicada por Bloomberg.

El embarque fue destinado al grupo Bazan, el principal procesador de crudo de Israel, según personas con conocimiento directo de la operación citadas por la agencia. Las fuentes solicitaron mantener el anonimato debido a que el acuerdo no ha sido divulgado de manera oficial por las partes involucradas.

La llegada de este cargamento marcará el primer envío de crudo venezolano hacia Israel desde mediados de 2020. En aquel momento, el país recibió alrededor de 470.000 barriles de petróleo procedentes de Venezuela, de acuerdo con datos de la firma de seguimiento de flujos energéticos Kpler.

Consultada sobre la operación, la compañía Bazan —también conocida como Oil Refineries Ltd— declinó hacer comentarios.

El Ministerio de Energía de Israel tampoco confirmó el origen del petróleo que recibe el país. De acuerdo con la información citada por Bloomberg, Israel no suele informar públicamente de dónde provienen sus cargamentos de crudo, y en determinados casos los buques que se aproximan a sus puertos dejan de transmitir su ubicación en los sistemas digitales de rastreo.

El envío se produce en un escenario de fuerte reconfiguración de las exportaciones petroleras venezolanas. A comienzos de este año, fuerzas estadounidenses capturaron al dictador narco Nicolás Maduro y, posteriormente, la administración del presidente Donald Trump anunció que pasará a supervisar las ventas internacionales de crudo del país sudamericano.

Hasta ese momento, una parte de la producción venezolana tenía como destino principal el mercado chino. En las últimas semanas, sin embargo, se han concretado ventas de cargamentos hacia compradores en India, España y Estados Unidos, además del despacho ahora dirigido a Israel, según los registros de operaciones citados por Bloomberg.

El reordenamiento del mercado venezolano también ha reactivado el interés de empresas internacionales por proyectos de gas y petróleo en la región. La petrolera británica BP informó que se encuentra tramitando una licencia ante el gobierno de Estados Unidos para desarrollar el yacimiento de gas Manakin-Cocuina, un campo que se extiende a ambos lados de la frontera entre Trinidad y Tobago y Venezuela.

La compañía requiere autorización de Washington para avanzar en el proyecto debido a que se mantienen las sanciones estadounidenses contra la estatal Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), que opera del lado venezolano del yacimiento.

BP ya había obtenido previamente permisos de la Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros de Estados Unidos y del régimen venezolano, pero esas licencias fueron revocadas en 2025 por la administración de Donald Trump.

El plan de BP contempla transportar más de un billón de pies cúbicos de gas natural hacia Trinidad para su procesamiento como gas natural licuado con destino a exportación. La empresa posee además el 45% de las plantas de Atlantic LNG en Trinidad, una de las principales plataformas de producción de gas licuado del Caribe.

Este renovado interés corporativo se desarrolla en paralelo a un refuerzo del control militar estadounidense sobre el tráfico marítimo vinculado a Venezuela. El Pentágono confirmó recientemente la captura de un petrolero que había logrado eludir el bloqueo impuesto por Washington a los buques sancionados que operan en rutas relacionadas con el país sudamericano.

“Las fuerzas estadounidenses capturaron el buque”, informó el Departamento de Defensa, luego de anunciar en la red social X que tropas estadounidenses habían abordado “sin incidentes” al petrolero Aquila II, incluido en la lista de sanciones del gobierno estadounidense.

Según el Pentágono, el navío “operaba desafiando la cuarentena establecida por el presidente Trump para los buques sancionados en el Caribe. Huyó y lo seguimos”, y fue rastreado desde el mar Caribe hasta el océano Índico, donde finalmente fue interceptado por fuerzas estadounidenses.

Este caso constituye el octavo petrolero incautado desde que, en diciembre, la Casa Blanca ordenó el bloqueo de los buques sancionados que partieran o se dirigieran a Venezuela. También es el segundo decomiso realizado fuera de la región del Caribe, después de que el mes pasado fuera capturado en el Atlántico norte un buque vinculado con Rusia que había zarpado desde puertos venezolanos.

(Con información de Bloomberg y Reuters)

President Donald Trump allegedly called the Palm Beach, Florida, Police Department in the mid-2000s to thank them for investigating Jeffrey Epstein while simultaneously warning them to stay focused on «evil» Ghislaine Maxwell, according to an FBI document recapping an interview with the local department’s former chief. 

«TRUMP called the PBPD (Palm Beach Police Department) to tell him ‘thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,’» reads an FBI document reviewed by Fox News Digital recounting a 2019 interview with former Palm Beach, Florida, Police Chief Michael Reiter. 

When approached for comment, however, an official with the Department of Justice pushed back Tuesday that the office was «not aware of any corroborating evidence that the President contacted law enforcement 20 years ago.»

Reiter served as the police chief in Palm Beach, Florida, from 2001 to 2009. Reiter’s name was redacted from the FBI document released by the Department of Justice (DOJ), but confirmed to the Miami Herald that he was interviewed by the FBI in 2019 and that Trump called the police department regarding Epstein in July 2006, according to the outlet. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to Reiter and a security and crisis management firm he operates, called Michael Reiter and Associates, Tuesday morning. Reiter declined to comment on the matter. 

The FBI document was among the millions of files, photos and emails released by the DOJ following Trump signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act in late 2025. The DOJ released its latest batch of files on Jan. 30.

The Florida police department began investigating Epstein in 2005 after receiving a call that a 14-year-old girl was allegedly molested by the financier, the Miami Herald reported. The call led to police uncovering other similar sexual abuse allegations and pulled Reiter into the investigation, the outlet wrote Monday. 

The FBI document recapping Reiter’s reported interview with federal officials continued that Trump allegedly called Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, «evil» and warned that police should «focus on her.» 

«TRUMP told him people in New York knew EPSTEIN was disgusting,» the FBI document continued of the interview with the former police chief. «TRUMP said MAXWELL was EPSTEIN’s operative, ‘she is evil and to focus on her,’ the report continues.  «TRUMP told (redacted) that he was around EPSTEIN once when teenagers were present and TRUMP ‘got the hell out of there.’ TRUMP was one of the very first people to call when people found out that they were investigating EPSTEIN.»

Fox News Digital also reached out to the White House on Tuesday morning for comment on the alleged phone call and FBI document. 

The Department of Justice released a trove of Epstein documents Dec. 19, 2025, following President Donald Trump’s signature on the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025.  (Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

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Trump long has maintained that while he did at a time brush elbows with Epstein, he «threw him out» of his Mar-a-Lago resort back in the 2000s as details of his web of sex trafficking and pedophilia circulated. 

Reiter’s interview with the FBI also backed up Trump’s longstanding comments that he ended any ties to Epstein in the early 2000s. 

«Mar-A-Lago is a mixture of everyone,» the FBI document reads. «DONALD TRUMP told (redacted) that he threw EPSTEIN out of his club.» 

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was a well-connected financier with a lengthy Rolodex of billionaires and celebrities who floated in and out of his orbit across the years.  (Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)

NEW GHISLAINE MAXWELL MUGSHOT INCLUDED IN DOJ’S LATEST EPSTEIN FILES RELEASE

Epstein was a well-connected financier with a lengthy Rolodex of billionaires and celebrities who floated in and out of his orbit across the years. He was convicted of sex trafficking minors in 2008 and served just more than one year of incarceration, which also included a controversial work-release arrangement under a plea agreement. 

He was arrested again in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell by suicide. 

Jeffrey Epstein was seen in a handful of personal images in the second data set released by the DOJ on Dec. 19, 2025, including on boats and near helicopters.  (Department of Justice)

Reiter’s interview with the FBI was held just two months after Epstein’s death, according to the Miami Herald.  

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Trump signed legislation in November 2025 that required the Justice Department to release files related to the late convicted sex offender, with the DOJ releasing tranches of the documents since December 2025. 

Fifteen people were arrested in Europe on Tuesday for allegedly spreading Islamic State terrorist group propaganda over TikTok, a report said. 

The suspects, whose ages ranged from 16 to 53, were taken into custody in raids across the Netherlands, according to Reuters. 

The news agency cited Dutch prosecutors as saying the suspects were detained on suspicion of spreading propaganda from ISIS on TikTok and trying to persuade people to carry out terrorist attacks. 

The arrests were sparked by a TikTok account that spread large amounts of ISIS propaganda with Dutch subtitles, the prosecutors reportedly added.

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Thirteen of those arrested were Syrian and four had Dutch nationality, suggesting that some of the suspects were dual nationals, Reuters reported. 

TikTok did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The arrests come as the U.S. military remains active in Syria against ISIS.

RISING ISIS THREATS TO US HOMELAND DRIVE AFRICOM AIRSTRIKES AGAINST TERRORISTS IN SOMALIA

The suspects were accused of spreading ISIS propaganda over TikTok. (Fox News)

U.S. Central Command announced last Wednesday that it carried out five strikes against «multiple» Islamic State targets in recent days as part of a joint military effort to «ensure the enduring defeat of the terrorist network.» 

CENTCOM said, from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, its forces «located and destroyed an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities with 50 precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.»  

«Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,» Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement.

U.S. airmen prepare to load GBU-31 munition systems onto F-15E Strike Eagles within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, on Dec. 19, 2025, in support of Operation Hawkeye Strike.   (U.S. Air Force Photo/Reuters)

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CENTCOM said it launched the Operation Hawkeye Strike mission in response to a Dec. 13, 2025, ISIS «ambush» attack against U.S. and Syrian forces in Palmyra, Syria.  

That attack left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead.