Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered the country’s navy to escort oil tankers headed toward Asia after President Donald Trump ordered a “total and complete blockade” on these vessels.
This development comes as Trump demands that Venezuela give the U.S. its oil rights back.
From The New York Times:
Several ships sailed from Venezuela toward Asia with a Venezuelan naval escort between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, said three people familiar with the transits. None of the commercial vessels are on the list of sanctioned tankers the United States is threatening to target.
But the recent cascade of events, set off by the Trump administration’s seizure of a tanker last week and then by the president’s order of a partial “blockade” on Tuesday, increased the likelihood of a violent conflict.
In the months since Mr. Trump began carrying out a pressure campaign against Venezuela, which includes lethal boat strikes that are widely deemed illegal by law experts, Mr. Maduro has refrained from answering with force. But that is being tested as Mr. Trump aims to drain the country’s oil revenues, the lifeblood of Venezuela’s economy, by cutting off some tanker traffic and seizing the oil.
Mr. Trump has talked repeatedly over the years about taking oil from Venezuela and the Middle East, and one of his envoys pushed Mr. Maduro to give greater access to American oil companies in secret negotiations this year. Venezuelan oil has become a focus of Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign aimed at ousting Mr. Maduro, though publicly the administration frames it as a counternarcotics effort
The three ships that left the Port of José on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela carried urea, petroleum coke and other oil-based products, said two of the people familiar with the transits, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivities. The third person familiar with the matter, a U.S. official, said Washington was aware of the escorts and was considering various courses of action.
The vessels leaving the port were not on a list of sanctioned vessels maintained by the Treasury Department, according to a review by The New York Times.
🚨 MADURO CALLS TRUMP’S BLUFF
— ADAM (@AdameMedia) December 18, 2025
Maduro will IGNORE Trump’s threats and the Venezuelan Navy will now escort the oil tankers in and out of Venezuelan waters.
Will Trump now murder innocent people and start a war to get his fat grubby fingers on oil?
pic.twitter.com/PRQKz5zeJV
The White House is aware of Maduro’s actions and is considering possible responses. The U.S. military recently seized an oil tanker suspected of transporting petroleum to sanctioned countries.
If the U.S. engages with the escorts, it could trigger a wider clash at sea.
Venezuela’s government argues that Trump’s blockade violates international law. However, the Trump administration contends that the actions are part of a broader effort to protect Americans from Venezuelan drug smugglers and other bad actors.
The administration has carried out airstrikes against several Venezeulan boats suspects of carrying dangerous narcotics to the U.S. So far, at least 95 people have been killed in the airstrikes.
