OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:20 AM – Friday, November 14, 2025
President Donald Trump received an updated briefing on options for potential military operations in Venezuela, including land strikes, as the United States continues to signal imminent war.
The president was reportedly briefed on Wednesday, according to numerous reports citing several sources familiar with the White House briefings.
The briefings were led by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, as well as other senior military officials, according to a CNN report.
Despite the briefings, President Trump is reportedly no closer to deciding, as he continues to weigh out the risk-benefit analysis of a war with Venezuela, according to inside sources.
The briefing comes as the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group sailed into the U.S. Southern Command’s jurisdiction just north of the Caribbean Sea, joining an increasingly large military buildup comprised of destroyers, warplanes, and other military assets.
Although it is unclear whether the administration will go through with military action against Venezuela, experts have speculated that the Trump administration’s decisions could range from no action at all to land strikes on strategic targets or the deployment of special operations forces to apprehend or kill Venezuela’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his top advisors.
Simultaneously, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the launch of “Operation Southern Spear,” led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and the U.S. Southern Command.
“This mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it,” Hegseth wrote on Thursday.
Hegseth’s announcement comes amid the latest U.S. military strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat on Monday, which is the 20th strike in a string of attacks against boats the administration claims are trafficking drugs to the United States.
The Trump administration has heavily pressured Maduro, increasing his bounty from $15 million to $50 million, labeling him as an illegitimate leader of Venezuela who “usurped power” while accusing him of facilitating the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States.
“President Trump believes that Nicholas Maduro is an illegitimate president leading an illegitimate regime that has been trafficking drugs to the United States of America for far too long, and we’re not going to tolerate it,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in October.
Additionally, Maduro called on President Trump to avoid another “forever war” on Thursday, signaling that he plans on responding to any U.S. military action rather than giving up power.
“No more forever wars. No more unjust wars. No more Libya. No more Afghanistan. Long live peace,” Maduro stated at a rally in Caracas on Thursday.
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