Trump moves to label Maduro regime a terrorist organization, orders blockade of sanctioned oil tankers

President Trump said Tuesday that he will designate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government as a foreign terrorist organization and order what he described as a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, sharply escalating U.S. pressure on the South American nation.

In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump said he was directing the blockade of “all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela,” and accused the Maduro government of criminal activity and the theft of U.S. assets. The president said his administration is labeling Maduro’s regime a foreign terrorist organization for the “theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking.”

Trump also claimed the United States has assembled an unprecedented military presence in the region. “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” he wrote, adding that the buildup would continue “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.”

“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping,” Trump added.

The announcement follows a series of recent moves by the administration targeting Venezuela’s oil sector and leadership. Last week, U.S. authorities seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast that the administration said was transporting “sanctioned oil” from Venezuela and Iran. Trump has said the United States intends to keep the oil that was on board. In addition, the administration has imposed new sanctions on members of the Maduro family and Venezuelan businesses.

At the same time, the Trump administration has been steadily increasing U.S. military activity in the region, prompting questions from lawmakers and foreign policy experts about whether the president is preparing for a broader military confrontation with Venezuela. The Pentagon has positioned the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and its carrier air wing in the Caribbean. According to flight-tracking data, two B-1 Lancer bombers departed Dyess Air Force Base in Texas in October and flew near Venezuela’s coast.

For months, U.S. forces have also conducted strikes against boats alleged to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean. Those operations, and the dozens of deaths associated with them, have drawn congressional scrutiny. Trump has repeatedly threatened to carry out land strikes inside Venezuela, though no such action has occurred to date.

Administration officials have argued that the campaign is aimed at disrupting drug trafficking networks linked to Venezuela. In an interview published Tuesday by Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said the president’s approach is to “keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me say that he will.”

The White House has not detailed how the proposed blockade would be enforced or how it would affect international shipping and energy markets, but the move is likely to heighten tensions with Venezuela and raise concerns among U.S. allies about the risk of escalation in the region.