Trump orders blockade of 'sanctioned oil tankers' into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on Maduro

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.

Trump's escalation comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. “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.”

Pentagon officials referred all questions about the post to the White House.

Venezuela’s government released a statement Tuesday accusing Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation” with “a reckless and grave threat” against the South American country.

“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.”

Maduro’s government, according to the statement, plans to denounce the situation before the United Nations.

The U.S. buildup has been accompanied by a series of military strikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign, which has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among U.S. lawmakers, has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels.

Trump has for weeks said that the U.S. will move its campaign beyond the water and start strikes on land.

The Trump administration has defended the strikes as a success, saying they have prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and pushed back on concerns that they are stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

The Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., but Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles appeared to confirm in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday that the campaign is part of a push to oust Maduro.

Wiles said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

Tuesday night's announcement seemed to have a similar aim.

Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day, has long relied on oil revenue as a lifeblood of its economy.

Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.

The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, has been locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount in the black market in China.

Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said about 850,000 barrels of the 1 million daily production is exported. Of that, he said, 80% goes to China, 15% to 17% goes to the U.S. through Chevron Corp., and the remainder goes to Cuba.

In October, Trump appeared to confirm reports that Maduro has offered a stake in Venezuela’s oil and other mineral wealth in recent months to try to stave off mounting pressure from the United States.

“He’s offered everything,” Trump said at the time. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to f—- around with the United States.”

It wasn't immediately clear how the U.S. planned to enact what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”

But the U.S. Navy has 11 ships, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships, in the region.

Those ships carry a wide complement of aircraft, including helicopters and V-22 Ospreys. Additionally, the Navy has been operating a handful of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.

All told, those assets provide the military a significant ability to monitor marine traffic coming in and out of the country.

Trump in his post said that the “Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” but it wasn't clear what he was referring to.

The foreign terrorist organization designation has been historically reserved for non-state actors that do not have sovereign immunities conferred by either treaties or United Nations membership.

In November, the Trump administration announced it was designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. The term Cartel de los Soles originally referred to Venezuelan military officers involved in drug-running, but it is not a cartel per se.

Governments that U.S. administrations seek to sanction for financing, otherwise fomenting or tolerating extremist violence are usually designated “state sponsors of terrorism.”

Venezuela is not on that list.

In rare cases, the U.S. has designated an element of a foreign government as an “FTO.” The Trump administration in its first term did so with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the Iranian government, which had already been designated a state sponsor of terrorism.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Matt Le in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

President Nicolas Maduro joins a rally marking the anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines, which took place during Venezuela's 19th-century Federal War, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

President Donald Trump speaks during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bears say they're mulling a move to Northwest Indiana with their efforts to secure public funding they say they need to build an enclosed stadium in Illinois stalled.

Team president Kevin Warren insisted Wednesday in an open letter to fans that the team still prefers to build a new home on a tract of land it owns in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois. He also said the Bears are not using the threat to cross state lines as leverage.

“This is not about leverage," Warren said. "We spent years trying to build a new home in Cook County. We invested significant time and resources evaluating multiple sites and rationally decided on Arlington Heights. Our fans deserve a world-class stadium. Our players and coaches deserve a venue that matches the championship standard they strive for every day.”

Warren did not say where in Northwest Indiana the Bears would look to move.

The letter comes just days before Chicago hosts rival Green Bay in a game with heavy playoff implications. The Bears (10-4) hold a slim lead over the Packers (9-4-1) in the NFC North. In their first season under coach Ben Johnson, they are trying to secure their first postseason appearance since 2020.

“Suggesting the Bears would move to Indiana is a startling slap in the face to all the beloved and loyal fans who have been rallying around the team during this strong season,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's spokesman Matt Hill said in a statement. "The Governor’s a Bears fan who has always wanted them to stay in Chicago. He has also said that ultimately they are a private business.”

The Bears’ focus for a new home has fluctuated between a tract of land they own in Arlington Heights to the Chicago lakefront, and then back to the suburb. They have said they plan to pay for the stadium construction on the site of a former racetrack about 30 miles northwest of their longtime home at Soldier Field, though they would need assistance to complete the project.

“The Bears have called Chicago home for more than a century,” Warren said. “One certainty is that our commitment to this city will not change. We will continue to provide unwavering support to the community. We need to secure a world-class venue for our passionate fanbase and honor the energy you bring every week.”

According to a team consultant report released in September, they are seeking $855 million in public funding for infrastructure in order to build a stadium in Arlington Heights that could host Final Fours and Super Bowls. The Bears were also hoping the Illinois legislature would pass a bill in October that would freeze property taxes for large-scale construction projects such as the stadium, allowing them to begin construction this year. But that didn't happen.

“For a project of this scale, uncertainty has significant consequences,” Warren said. “Stable timelines are critical, as are predictable processes and elected leaders, who share a sense of urgency and appreciation for public partnership that projects with this level of impact require. We have not received that sense of urgency or appreciation to date. We have been told directly by State leadership, our project will not be a priority in 2026, despite the benefits it will bring to Illinois.”

In September 2022, the Bears unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that also called for restaurants, retail and more, when they were finalizing the purchase of that site 30 miles from Soldier Field. Their focus moved toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as president two years ago to replace the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Mayor Brandon Johnson but a tepid reception from Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

Last spring, the team announced it was turning its attention back to Arlington Heights, citing “significant progress” with local leaders.

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Kevin Warren, president and chief executive officer of the Chicago Bears, talks on the field before an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in Chicago, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)