Following his tirade on sanctioned oil tankers coming in and going from Venezuela, President Donald Trump, on Thursday, said he is not ruling out the possibility of war with Venezuela.
“I don’t rule it out, no,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview. The POTUS said “I don’t discuss it” when he was asked whether he ruled out the possibility that the ‘blockade’ of sanctioned oil tankers could lead to war.
Trump’s comments about the possibility of a war with Venezuela come amid his administration’s actions on all oil tankers entering and going out of the South American nation. The administration has repeatedly claimed that the strikes have been on alleged drug boats and that Venezuela is using oil revenue to finance “drug terrorism”.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump ordered what he called a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers coming and going from Venezuela, increasing pressure on the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. Earlier, the US had also seized an oil tanker captured near Venezuela.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
According to a report by NBC News, Trump’s campaign has already resulted in 28 boat strikes that have killed more than 100 people, including a “double tap” strike facing congressional scrutiny.
When pressed further about his administration’s actions regarding oil tankers, Trump confirmed that there was a possibility of additional seizures of oil tankers.
When asked for a timeline, Trump told NBC News, “It depends. If they’re foolish enough to be sailing along, they’ll be sailing along back into one of our harbors.”
Venezuela’s government on Tuesday issued a statement accusing Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation,” calling his actions “a reckless and grave threat.”
It added – “On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property.”
Referring to Trump’s post on Truth Social, the statement also said, “Consequently, he demands that Venezuela immediately hand over all its riches. The President of the United States intends to impose, in an utterly irrational manner, a supposed naval blockade on Venezuela with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our nation.”
– Trump has repeatedly blamed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants in the US. According to a report by the BBC, there are around eight million Venezuelans estimated to have fled the country’s economic crisis and repression since 2013.
– Without any evidence, Trump has accused Maduro of “emptying his prisons and insane asylums” and “forcing” inmates to migrate to the US. He has also made curbing the flow of drugs—particularly fentanyl and cocaine into the United States, a central focus of his rhetoric.
– The POTUS has designated two Venezuelan criminal groups – Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles – as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs) – alleging that the latter is led by Maduro himself.
— Maduro has vehemently denied being a cartel leader and has accused the US of using its “war on drugs” as an excuse to try to depose him and get its hands on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.