<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/us-begins-operation-to-seize-venezuela-linked-oil-tanker/6fd704f8-8ffa-4195-a26e-d738451f2820" rel="" target="" title="US seizure of a Venezuela-linked oil tanker"><span>US seizure of a Venezuela-linked oil tanker</span></a><span> in the North Atlantic was seen by some as the unilateral action of an America-first government with scant regard for other countries' views. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Britain calls it an example of trans-Atlantic cooperation in support of international rules.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/uk" rel="" target="" title="UK"><span>UK</span></a><span> government argues that the interception of the vessel by </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="American"><span>American</span></a><span> special forces backed by British sea and air support, alongside a US pledge of security guarantees for </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/ukraine" rel="" target="" title="Ukraine"><span>Ukraine</span></a><span>, vindicate Prime Minister </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/keir-starmer" rel="" target="" title="Keir Starmer"><span>Keir Starmer</span></a><span>'s efforts to keep </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="" title="Trump"><span>Trump</span></a><span> from abandoning America's European allies.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/more-australians-picking-up-side-hustles-as-cost-of-living-pressure-grows/cmk561r1a00020iqigqu1ra6s"><strong><span>More Australians picking up side hustles as cost of living pressure grows</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Others say that is wishful thinking, as the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/venezuela-donald-trump-claims-of-running-venezuela-leave-questions-despite-congressional-briefing/8e284b48-cdbe-4bbc-b1ee-a290d4ef1fd7" rel="" target="" title="US capture of President Nicolás Maduro"><span>US capture of President Nicolás Maduro</span></a><span> and Trump's renewed desire to acquire </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/greenland" rel="" target="" title="Greenland"><span>Greenland</span></a><span> put Starmer's bridge-building efforts under potentially intolerable strain.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Europe's dilemma</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The UK is trying hard to find positive things to say about all this," Bronwen Maddox, director of international affairs think-tank Chatham House, said on Thursday. "The tanker gives governments like Keir Starmer's a way to support the US without supporting everything it's doing.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/britain-says-tanker-seizure-is-a-win-for-trans-atlantic-security-but-tensions-loom-over-greenland/e7b08b3a-d307-4a06-a3e6-f9a52e11a566" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You can see the dilemma: The UK and Europe don't want to provoke Trump and the administration, which might put at risk first the defence of Ukraine and second the defence of Europe and third their trade deals," Maddox said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But they're torn, because they also want to stand up for principles."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Debriefing British lawmakers on the ship seizure, Defence Secretary John Healey insisted that the UK and the US remain "the closest possible defence and security allies." NATO, he added, "is stronger now, larger now and more united now" than ever before.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US officials said the seizure of the merchant vessel Bella 1 – and a second tanker intercepted in the Caribbean – are part of its operations to take control of Venezuela's oil following Maduro's ouster.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Healey had a different emphasis, framing the interception of the ship as it headed toward Russia as action to support Ukraine and tackle the "shadow fleet" of decrepit tankers used by Russia and Iran to evade international oil sanctions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Last year, it was estimated that Russia sold up to $100 billion from sanctioned oil, money which is directly funding attacks against Ukrainian citizens," Healey said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We owe it to Ukrainians to step up on these shadow operations, and we are."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Starmer stresses the positive</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Since Trump's return to office a year ago, European nations including the UK have struggled with how to deal with a president who has slapped tariffs on trading partners, quit international organisations and derided NATO, the bedrock of Euro-Atlantic security for more than 75 years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>France's President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday lamented that the United States is "gradually turning away from some of its allies and freeing itself from the international rules."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Starmer continues to emphasise the positive. The centre-left prime minister has made it a key goal to keep on Trump's good side, and to keep Trump onside with Europe over Ukraine.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He has refrained from direct criticism, despite strong political pressure to condemn Trump's attacks on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticism of British immigration policy and $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC. He has declined to criticise the toppling of Maduro, stressing that the UK supports international law without saying whether the US attack broke it.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>British officials pointed to the Trump administration's commitment at a conference in Paris this week to provide security guarantees for Ukraine after a future ceasefire as a concrete result of its approach. Healey said those guarantees "could not be more important."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Leslie Vinjamuri, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said Starmer has "done a pretty good job in a very complicated situation where the UK clearly needs to depend on the US.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's very tactical on the part of the UK," she said. "Grab the United States where you can to demonstrate that you're on the same page, that you are useful.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"That's pragmatic politics. That's realism."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But not all differences can be papered over. Trump's insistence that acquiring Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory, is essential for US security has forced the British leader into a position at odds with the president.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Starmer has said repeatedly this week that "only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark" can decide the future of the vast Arctic island.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Starmer spoke to Trump late on Wednesday and "set out his position on Greenland," the prime minister's office said in a terse summary of the call. It did not say how Trump responded.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Maddox said that Trump's proposal "to seize the sovereign territory of a European country, a NATO member" is so egregious that Starmer's "dance of keeping under the radar begins to look not just ridiculous but self-defeating."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727"><em><strong><span>Apple App Store</span></strong></em></a><span> </span><em><strong><span>and</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1"><em><strong><span>Google Play</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>.</span></strong></em></div></div>