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PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump announced a “total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Trump, the Maduro regime, and the U.S. military.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Announcement made via Truth Social late Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.” – Donald Trump
🎯IMPACT: Maduro has responded to the move, threatening to bring the matter to the United Nations (UN) and seek international support against the blockade.
IN FULL
President Donald J. Trump has ordered the U.S. military to engage in a “total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned vessels, including oil tankers attempting to either enter or leave Venezuelan waters. Further, Trump announced that Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro‘s regime has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), opening new avenues for the U.S. to ramp up pressure on the Marxist strongman to abdicate.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. 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 wrote late Tuesday in a post on Truth Social. “The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields 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.”
“Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” President Trump added.
The announcement received a swift response from Maduro, who, in an official statement, accused President Trump of attempting to impose an “irrational naval blockade on Venezuela in order to steal the wealth that belongs to our homeland.” Maduro further said his government plans to bring the matter to the United Nations (UN) and seek international support against the blockade.
Last week, U.S. military forces seized a sanctioned, stateless oil tanker departing Venezuela and en route to Cuba. According to U.S. officials, the vessel was laden with Venezuelan and Iranian oil—both under sanction. If the tanker had reached Cuba, its oil would have been further refined and then sold in Asian markets, with China being the likely buyer.
Maduro referred to the seizure as “like Pirates of the Caribbean” and urged a “grand protest of international oil workers” against the United States. “The oil working class must proceed to defend the right to free trade of Venezuela’s main export product, oil,” Maduro stated.
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