Trump Imposes Blockade on Sanctioned Oil Tankers to Intensify Strain on Maduro

President Donald Trump mentioned on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) he’s ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up strain on the nation’s chief Nicolás Maduro.

The strikes comes after U.S. forces final week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an uncommon transfer that adopted a buildup of navy forces within the area. In a put up on social media Tuesday night time asserting the blockade, Mr. Trump alleged Venezuela was utilizing oil to fund drug trafficking and different crimes.

“Right now, I’m ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Mr. Trump wrote on his Reality Social platform.

Mr. Trump additionally mentioned the massive U.S. naval armada amassed within the Caribbean “will solely get larger” till Venezuela returns “to america of America all the Oil, Land, and different Belongings that they beforehand stole from us.”