“A terrible threat”: Trump announces a complete embargo on Venezuela
“A terrible threat”: Trump announces a complete embargo on Venezuela
2025-12-17
Shafaq News – Washington/Caracas
US President Donald Trump announced a complete blockade on all “sanctioned oil tankers” entering or leaving Venezuela, in a move he said was aimed at escalating pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump said the decision came after U.S. forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, an unusual move that coincided with a military buildup in the region.
In a social media post (Tuesday night), Trump announced the blockade, claiming that Venezuela uses oil revenues to fund drug trafficking and other criminal activities. He wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Today, I am ordering a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.”
He added that the large US naval fleet deployed in the Caribbean region “will grow in size” until Venezuela “returns to the United States of America all the oil, land and other assets that it previously stole from us,” considering that “the Venezuelan regime is classified as a foreign terrorist organization,” and that Venezuela is “completely surrounded by the largest naval fleet ever assembled in the history of South America.”
Trump stressed that “Venezuela will receive an unprecedented shock,” adding that “the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro is using oil from our stolen fields to finance its activities.”
In response, the Venezuelan government on Wednesday described the US president’s announcement regarding a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving the country as “irrational” and a “horrible threat.”
She stated in a statement that “the President of the United States is attempting to impose an alleged naval military blockade on Venezuela in an irrational manner with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our nation.”
Venezuela also denounced before the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday what it called the “theft” of an oil tanker on December 10 that was seized by the United States during a military operation.
The Trump administration has been putting increasing pressure on Venezuela for months through naval military reinforcements accompanied by deadly strikes on boats that the United States accuses it of using to smuggle drugs, resulting in the deaths of at least 95 people.
For his part, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro considered the US military deployment near his country to be part of a plan to overthrow him and “steal” Venezuela’s abundant oil under the guise of fighting drugs.
Last week, US forces also seized a Venezuelan oil tanker, accusing it of transporting oil from the black market in violation of the US embargo, and confirmed their intention to keep the confiscated shipment.
In a letter to Slovenian diplomat Samuel Zbogar, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, Caracas urged the council to condemn what it described as “state-sponsored piracy, the unlawful use of military force against a private vessel, and the theft of cargo resulting from legitimate international trade,” and demanded that the United States release the ship’s “abducted” crew members.
Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves, produces about one million barrels of oil per day, but since 2019 it has faced an embargo that forces it to sell its oil on the black market at discounted prices.
shafaq.com
