Trump orders "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers in Venezuela

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 at sea — and leaves the door open for land strikes.

"Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America," the president wrote on Truth Social. "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."

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

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. 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. The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace. America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

DONALD J. TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dec 16, 2025, 6:46 PM

[Don’t use the “B” word. Stopping the tankers is legal. Blockades are literally an act of war.

I know he is trying to talk to his base…but some words have real meanings.]

At the same time, acts of war don’t usually lead to war. Even when they do, the ensuing war is usually a skirmish, a tit-for-tat riposte, rather than the all-out effort of WW2.

Taking the US embassy led to zero military strikes against Iran, never mind an attempt to conquer the country. Hezbollah’s torture and murder of Bill Buckley, the CIA station chief operating under diplomatic cover (and immunity) was at Iran’s behest, but Reagan looked the other way, imposing mostly sanctions on the people suspected of involvement. Was Gaddafi’s bombing of Panam 103 an act of war? Sure. But the fall of his regime was almost 20 years in the making, and not at the hands of US troops.

Venezuela has a 63,000 man army. There are about 2,500 amphibious Marines offshore.

Next year is the midterms. It’s pretty much difficult to see how 2500 guys can take control of the country against a 63,000 man army. Most particularly take control of it with no casualties in a midterm year.

I don’t think it’s going to happen. If tankers with a sanction designation become the only tankers available then they’re going to get a Chinese or Russian escort. But I suspect there are a lot of tankers out there that have not been carrying Iranian oil, have a Chinese flag, and have been carrying Venezuelan oil to China.

I don’t think they’re going to be confiscated. And they certainly are not going to be confiscated if they have an escort. The whole escort scenario always comes down to who shoots first. There is so much media out there that it will be very hard to conceal who shot first.

That’s where it gets very dicey because the presence of escorts should preclude any military action, but if it does prevent military action then Trump looks like he has been bluff called. The fact that it’s China makes it much much more difficult.

If a chinese tanker loads up with Venezuelan oil and has a military escort and someone with an itchy trigger finger hits the escort and generates some casualties, then that will likely be the end of an aircraft carrier on the other side of the world near Taiwan. China would have no choice. They will have had their own troops killed off the shores of Venezuela by US Navy personnel and they have to retaliate.

So the goal here would be don’t put them into a position where they have to retaliate

President Trump proclaimed in relevant part, "today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela."

A relevant quote from Black's Law Dictionary, 11th Ed., specifies a blockade prevents "all vessels and/or aircraft from entering exiting specified ports, airports, or coastal areas belonging to another state." Trump's "blockade" does not apply to all vessels, but to a subset of vessels.

"The term blockade is all too often used for measures that do not qualify as a blockade proper, such as sieges on land or barring the passage through an international strait or an international canal. Sometimes the use of the term is cautiously avoided because states are unwilling to admit that they are indeed establishing and enforcing a blockade against another state. Neither the erroneous use of the term or the refusal of its use [is] relevant to the legal concept of blockade. A blockade is a military operation to prevent all vessels and/or aircraft from entering exiting specified ports, airports, or coastal areas belonging to another state. Hence a blockade by its very nature can only be established off the coast of another state and not within the territory of another state or within a sea area that is not geographically connected with a land territory, that is, on the high seas." Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg, "Blockades and Interdictions," in The Oxford Handbook of the Use of Force in International Law 925, 927 (Marc Weller ed., 2015)

Trump's announcement does not purport to prevent ALL vessels from entering or exiting specified ports. He announced a military interdiction of certain ships. While he improperly uses the term blockade, it does not qualify as a blockade pursuant to international law.

An actual blockade is an international act that has serious legal consequences.

The Protector, 79 U.S. 700 (1870).

The precise dates, and the precise events, of the start and end of the civil war was addressed by the United States Supreme Court in the case of The Protector, 79 U.S. 700 (1870). This was crucial to determining whether certain insurance claims were timely filed or not.

The question, in the present case is, when did the rebellion begin and end? In other words, what space of time must be considered as excepted from the operation of the statute of limitations by the war of the rebellion?
[...]
It is necessary, therefore, to refer to some public act of the political departments of the government to fix the dates, and, for obvious reasons, those of the executive department which may be and in fact was, at the commencement of hostilities, obliged to act during the recess of Congress, must be taken.
The proclamation of intended blockade by the President may therefore be assumed as marking the first of these dates, and the proclamation that the war had closed as marking the second.

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