US President Donald Trump ordered the blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers from entering and leaving Venezuela, escalating U.S. tensions with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

In a post on Truth Social, he said the “Venezuelan regime had been designated a foreign terrorist organisation” and accused it of stealing US assets, as well as “terrorism, drug smuggling, and human trafficking.”

The actions come less than one week after the United States seized a crude oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela that the Trump administration said was “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”

It’s not clear in the Trump’s announcement how many vessels are covered by the planned blockade.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on December 17. “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.”

Trump also accused Maduro’s government of using stolen oil 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 US president wrote on Truth Social. “Therefore, today, I am ordering a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.”

The Venezuelan government responded to Trump’s post, calling his declaration 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 objective of stealing the wealth that belongs to our homeland,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.

The text says that Trump “assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land and mineral wealth are his property. And consequently, Venezuela must hand over all its wealth immediately.”

In this sense, the government will proceed “in strict adherence to the UN Charter” to fully exercise its freedom, jurisdiction and sovereignty “above these warmongering threats.”

He adds that, immediately, the ambassador to the UN will proceed to denounce this serious violation of International Law against Venezuela.

In direct reference to the U.S. president, the statement rejects the expression “until all the oil, land, and other assets that were previously stolen from us return to the U.S.,” written by Trump, which says that it reveals their real intention of “appropriating the country’s oil, lands, and minerals through gigantic campaigns of lies and manipulations.”

When U.S. forces boarded and seized the large crude oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, it marked a shift in how sanctions enforcement is being applied.

According to Maritime AI™ company Windward, this signals a narrower but more consequential shift: when sanctions violations, AIS manipulation, and false flagging converge, enforcement may no longer stop at designation alone. Physical intervention has become a viable outcome under specific, documentable conditions.

“Interdictions will increasingly rely on early detection rather than last-minute response. Authorities will need to identify which vessels are moving toward seizure-grade risk before they enter contested waters or complete cargo transfers. That requires more than static sanctions lists or AIS tracks viewed in isolation,” Windward says.

Since Mr. Trump returned to office in January, he has ramped up economic pressure on Maduro.

Separately, since September, the U.S. military has launched dozens of strikes on vessels allegedly carrying drugs – moves the Trump administration has said are about stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S. 

The Trump administration accuses Venezuela of funnelling narcotics into the US and has intensified its efforts to pressure president Maduro in recent months.

Venezuela has, in turn, accused Washington of seeking to take its oil. Maduro has insisted the real purpose of these actions is to force him from office.