Trump Turns the Screws on Maduro With Blockade of Sanctioned Oil Tankers

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that he would declare Venezuela’s government a “foreign terrorist organization” and ordered a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers coming and going from the country.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”

In his post Tuesday, Trump added that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime is rife with corruption. Trump first imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, during his first administration, leading the Maduro regime to resort to a fleet of unflagged tankers that deliberately avoided U.S. checkpoints.

“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping,” the post continued. “For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”

“America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump added in his post.

The post comes the same day White House chief of staff Susie Wiles suggested in an interview published by Vanity Fair that the Trump administration may be seeking regime change in Venezuela after all — and said that a number of recent actions, including a series of airstrikes targeting alleged drug smuggling boats off the country’s coast, were meant to turn the screws on Maduro.

“[Trump] wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle,” Wiles told writer Chris Whipple for the piece. “And people way smarter than me on that say that he will.”

Trump administration officials have said for months that the strikes were meant to deter drug trafficking to the United States and had nothing to do with regime change.

Earlier Tuesday, lawmakers on Capitol Hill received their third classified briefing on the Defense Department’s alleged Sept. 2 “double-tap” strike in the Caribbean, which reportedly targeted survivors clinging to the wreckage following a first strike. Since the attacks began in early September, nearly 90 people have reportedly been killed.

At the Tuesday briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the administration is “proud” of its operation thus far and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the mission was succeeding and would continue.

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, said after the briefing that he was “struck by” the fact that neither was willing to answer questions about the administration’s ultimate goal in Venezuela.

“The core policy question is, if you succeed in overthrowing or removing Maduro by whatever means, what comes next?” Coons said.