Coverage dated December 16, 2025 to December 17, 2025
United States Orders Partial Blockade on Venezuela
Headline from War on the Rocks
This week, President Donald Trump ordered a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. Henry Ziemer returns to The Warcast to unpack the...
War on the Rocks's own description from its feed. We collect headlines and these descriptions, not full articles; read the original reporting below.
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro said President Donald Trump's announcement of a naval blockade of Venezuela's sanctioned oil tankers is "unquestionably an act of war" and defended his initiative to
President Donald Trump says he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro. The moves comes after U.S.
President Trump ordered a "total and complete blockade" of all oil tankers going to and exiting Venezuela while demanding the regime return "all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us."
The president’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.
Venezuela condemns President Donald Trump's blockade order as "warmongering threats" and files complaint with U.N. Security Council over oil tanker restrictions.
Some oil vessels are diverting away from Venezuela after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving the South American country. It's a dramatic escalation in the White House’s pressure campaign on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
A new U.S.-ordered blockade on sanctioned tankers threatens Venezuela's critical supply of Russian naphtha diluent, putting the South American country's crude oil exports and production at serious risk.
President Trump on Tuesday called for a "total and complete blockade" on all sanctioned oil tankers that enter or depart Venezuela, as the administration heaps pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
President Trump says he's imposing a ban on all sanctioned oil tankers leaving Venezuela. Venezuela's government is calling this an 'outrageous threat' intended to rob the country of its oil wealth.
President Trump has ordered a complete blockade on "all sanctioned oil vessels” in and out of Venezuela. Rice University professor Francisco J. Monaldi explains how the move, if enforced strictly, could devalue local currency, increase inflation and contribute to political instability in Venezuela.
President Trump said he has ordered a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela and designated the Maduro government as a foreign terrorist organization, according to a statement posted by the president.
