Donald Trump has ordered what he described as “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, sharply escalating pressure on the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
The announcement comes amid an intensifying campaign by the Trump administration against the Venezuelan government, including an expanded US military presence in the region and a series of strikes on vessels near Venezuelan waters.
In recent months, US forces have carried out more than 20 military strikes in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, killing at least 95 people, most of them off Venezuela’s coast.
Last week, the US seized an oil tanker near Venezuela that was travelling through the Caribbean. The New York Times reported that the vessel was believed to be carrying about two million barrels of Venezuela’s heavy crude oil.
Venezuela’s government accused the US of “blatant theft” and described the seizure as “an act of international piracy”, further heightening tensions between the two countries.
Trump announced the blockade in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Tuesday night. He alleged that Venezuela was using oil revenues to fund drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the history of South America,” Trump wrote. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
He added: “Today, I am ordering a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
It remains unclear how the blockade would be enforced, or whether the US Coast Guard would be used to intercept vessels, as it was during last week’s seizure.
The administration has recently moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships, including an aircraft carrier, into the region.
Speaking earlier on Tuesday, before Trump’s post, Maduro accused the US of attempting to seize Venezuela’s natural resources.
“Imperialism and the fascist right want to colonise Venezuela to take over its wealth of oil, gas and gold,” he said. “We have sworn absolutely to defend our homeland, and in Venezuela peace will triumph.”
In a statement reported by Reuters, Venezuela’s government rejected the blockade as a “grotesque threat” and an “utterly irrational” attempt to steal the country’s wealth.
The move drew criticism from US lawmakers. Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas, described the blockade as “unquestionably an act of war”.
“A war that Congress never authorised and the American people do not want,” he said.
Oil market participants said prices were beginning to rise in anticipation of a potential fall in Venezuelan exports, though uncertainty remained over how the blockade would be applied and whether it would affect non-sanctioned vessels.
An effective embargo has already been in place since last week’s tanker seizure, with loaded ships remaining in Venezuelan waters rather than risk interception.
Venezuelan crude exports have fallen sharply since then, a situation worsened by a cyberattack this week that disrupted the administrative systems of PDVSA, the state-run oil company.
While many vessels carrying Venezuelan oil are sanctioned, others transporting oil linked to Iran and Russia are not. Some companies, including the US firm Chevron, continue to move Venezuelan crude using authorised ships.
For now, the global oil market remains well supplied, with millions of barrels stored on tankers off the coast of China. Analysts said a prolonged embargo removing nearly one million barrels a day from the market could push prices higher.
The administration has defended its actions as part of a campaign to stop drugs reaching the US. On Tuesday, the Pentagon said it had carried out strikes on three boats in the Pacific it accused of drug trafficking, killing eight people.
Several lawmakers have called for the release of video footage from a 2 September strike, but defence secretary Pete Hegseth has refused, saying the footage is classified and that releasing it would violate long-standing defence policy.
While officials have framed the campaign as a counter-narcotics effort, Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, suggested broader aims in an interview with Vanity Fair published on Tuesday.
She said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle”.
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