President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced what he called a “blockade” of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, increasing American pressure on the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Navy ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on his social media platform. “It will only get bigger, and the impact on them will be like nothing they have ever seen before, until such time as they return to the United States of America all the oil, land and other assets they previously stole from us.”
It was not immediately clear what stolen oil and land Trump was referring to. However, under Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan government expropriated assets from some American oil companies after the country nationalized oil fields in 2007.
President Donald Trump speaks during the presentation of the Mexican Border Defense Medal in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, December 15, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
In the message, Trump announced “A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS entering and leaving Venezuela” and demanded the return of the oil and assets.
The Venezuelan government responded to Trump’s post, calling his statement a “reckless and serious threat” against the country that it says violates international law, free trade and freedom of navigation.
“The president of the United States intends to impose in an absolutely irrational manner a supposed naval military blockade on Venezuela with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our homeland,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.
The United States currently has 11 warships in the Caribbean – the most in decades – but even with an increased presence, that probably would not be enough to implement a blockade in the traditional sense, which involves completely sealing off a country’s coast.
Reuters reported last week that the fleet of sanctioned ships helping move Venezuelan oil numbered about 30. According to Tanker Trackers, there are more than a dozen sanctioned tankers in Venezuelan waters right now.
Last week, the United States seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela that authorities said was involved in an illicit oil shipping network that supported foreign terrorist organizations and was used to transport oil between the South American country and Iran. The tanker was heading to Cuba.
Furthermore, since September, the US military has launched dozens of strikes on vessels supposedly transporting drugs – measures the Trump administration says are aimed at stopping the flow of drugs into the US.
Trump’s post Tuesday night came after White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was quoted in Vanity Fair as if saying that Trump “wants to keep blowing up ships until Maduro cries uncle.”
In Tuesday’s post, Trump denounced Maduro’s government as a “hostile regime.”
While the United States has long considered Maduro the head of a corrupt dictatorial regime, last month Trump, in an unprecedented move, declared him head of a foreign terrorist organization.
“The illegitimate Maduro regime is using the oil from these stolen oil fields to finance itself, narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping,” Trump wrote in Tuesday’s post. “Due to the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Trafficking and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”
