Trump leaves open option of war with Venezuela
- - Trump leaves open option of war with Venezuela
Bart Jansen, USA TODAYDecember 19, 2025 at 6:41 AM
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump told NBC News that war remains possible with Venezuela, a country whose leadership he labeled a terrorist regime and which he has targeted militarily because of alleged drug smuggling.
"I don’t rule it out, no," Trump told NBC on Dec. 18 in a phone interview.
Trump ordered a blockade Dec. 16 of oil tankers leaving and arriving in the South American country, part of a months-long buildup of U.S. military forces.
1 / 12US military conducts deadly boat strikes against alleged drug traffickersSept. 15, 2025: The U.S. military killed three people in a strike on a boat allegedly trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea.
The U.S. seized a tanker on Dec. 10 bound for Cuba with cargo owned by a businessman with ties to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
"If they're foolish enough to be sailing along, they'll be sailing along back into one of our harbors," Trump told NBC News.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 2, 2025.
The U.S. military is also striking boats allegedly smuggling drugs out of Venezuela. The attacks on 28 boats have killed more than 100 people.
Congress is scrutinizing a second strike on Sept. 2 on a boat where people were clinging to wreckage in the water after the initial explosion.
A drone view of the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS Sampson DDG-102 docked near the entrance to the Panama Canal, amid a large buildup of U.S. naval forces in and around the Southern Caribbean, in Panama City, Panama, on Aug. 30, 2025.
Trump aims to pressure Venezuela to change its leadership through his military campaign. He declared Maduro’s regime a foreign terrorist organization in a social media post on Dec. 16.
He told members of the military on Nov. 28 that strikes on land could begin “very soon.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump leaves war option with Venezuela on table
Source: “AOL Breaking”
