TIMELINE: Key moments in US-Venezuela feud as US threatens to start striking land targets

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday (December 11) the U.S. will soon begin strikes to interdict narcotics shipments making their way from Venezuela to the United States via land routes.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to begin strikes on narcotics being smuggled overland in recent weeks.

The U.S. is also preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, six sources familiar with the matter said.

The seizure was the first interdiction of an oil cargo or tanker from Venezuela, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019. It came as the U.S. executes a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean and as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for Maduro's ouster.

The latest U.S. action has put shipowners, operators and maritime agencies involved in transporting Venezuelan crude on alert, with many reconsidering whether to sail from Venezuelan waters in the coming days as planned, shipping sources said.

Further direct interventions by the U.S. are expected in the coming weeks targeting ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported oil from other countries targeted by U.S. sanctions, such as Iran, according to the sources familiar with the matter who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Production: Andrea Rodriguez, Mussab Al-Khairalla, Bernat Parera/Reuters