Versions :<12345678910Live>
Snapshot 8:Wed, Dec 17, 2025 7:03:27 PM GMT last edited by JoseMoura

Trump Orders 'Total and Complete' Blockade of Sanctioned Oil Tankers In and Out of Venezuela

Trump DesignatesOrders Venezuela'Total Governmentand asComplete' Terrorist, Orders Blockade of Sanctioned Oil Tankers In and Out of Venezuela

Above: The USS Iwo Jima docked at Rafael Cordero Santiago Port of the America in Puerto Rico on Dec. 16, 2025. Image credit: *** GETTY *** Miguel J. Rodríguez Carrillo/Getty Images

The Spin

Venezuela's sanctioned oil trade directly funds terrorism and enriches adversaries like Iran, Russia and China, makingso a blockade of illicit tankers is essential for U.S. national security policy. The Maduro's narcoterroristnarco-terrorist regime stole billions in American oil assets through illegal expropriation, and international tribunals have ruled in favor of U.S. companies owed over $8 billion. Forceful action to recover stolenthese propertyassets and dismantletopple this criminal cartel isn't optional — it's overdue justice that will cut off drug trafficking, end mass migration and remove hostile foreign powers from America's hemisphere.

This blockade is unconstitutional without congressional authorization and the timing of its announcement appears designed to distractdivert attention from damaging Epstein filefiles releases. whileTo seizingmake foreignmatters oilworse, Americathe U.S. doesn't even need. Theto seize foreign oil as the fracking revolution already made the U.S.country a net oil exporter with cheap gasoline prices, and globalVenezuela's oilheavy demandcrude may havesoon peakedbecome duea toliability EVas adoptionglobal oil makingdemand Venezuelanis heavylikely crudeto anfall expensive liabilityand rather than a prize. History proves regime change createscan chaosonly thatcreate backfires,further andchaos destabilizingin VenezuelaAmerica's willbackyard, unleashunleashing migration and drug trafficking on an unprecedented scale right in America's backyard.

Metaculus Prediction

There's a 60% chance that the U.S. will attack Venezuela in December 2025 or January 2026, according to the Metaculus prediction community.


The Controversies



Go Deeper


Articles on this story



© 2025 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 6.18.0

© 2025 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.18.0