OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
8:28 AM – Wednesday, December 17, 2025
President Donald Trump has designated the Venezuelan government a terrorist organization and ordered a complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers into Venezuela.
The president announced the mounting pressure on Venezuela in a Truth Social Post on Tuesday.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — 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,” he asserted.
Trump argued that the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom he finds to be an illegitimate leader, is using oil from “stolen oil fields to finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping.”
“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” the president proclaimed.
“Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he continued.
“The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace,” Trump continued. “America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY.”
The decision came shortly after the U.S. seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast last week, in addition to a buildup of military forces in the area.
“For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time, posting a video of the operation. “This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely—and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.”
The vessel, called the “Skipper,” secretly ferries oil in defiance of sanctions, and was part of an armada of roughly 1,000 tankers — so-called “ghost ships” — that moves oil from sanctioned countries like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela while sailing under foreign flags.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Venezuelan government accused Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation” with “a reckless and grave threat.”
“On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property,” the statement said of Trump’s post. “Consequently, he demands that Venezuela immediately hand over all its riches. The President of the United States intends to impose, in an utterly irrational manner, a supposed naval blockade on Venezuela with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our nation.”
According to the statement, Maduro’s administration will denounce the situation before the United Nations.
Trump has been ramping up military opposition to Venezuela since September, when the Pentagon launched a campaign attacking alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Since then, at least 25 deadly strikes have been carried out on offending boats, killing nearly 100 people.
Trump had teased around the Thanksgiving holiday that military action would begin on land in Venezuela, as well, “very soon.”
President Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles believes that his goal is to wear down the authoritarian leader. In a Vanity Fair interview on Tuesday, she said the president “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Correction: The spelling in the title has been corrected.
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