TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - US President Donald Trump, has opened the possibility of war with Venezuela, while his top diplomat, Marco Rubio, pledged on Friday to impose a blockade on the oil wealth of the country.
When asked in an interview with NBC News as quoted by CNA on Thursday about the war with Venezuela, Trump said, "I don't rule it out, not."
Trump refused to say whether he wants to oust President Nicolas Maduro, after stating in a previous interview that his "days are numbered."
"He knows exactly what I want," Trump responded. "He knows better than anybody."
Rubio's Pledge
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was repeatedly questioned about Venezuela during a two-hour press conference at the State Department delivered in English and Spanish, also declined to explicitly answer whether the US aimed to overthrow Maduro.
However, the Republican politician pledged to continue moving forward.
"It is clear that the current status quo with the Venezuelan regime is intolerable for the United States," Rubio said.
"So yes, our goal is to change that dynamic, and that's why the president is doing what he's doing," he said referring to Trump.
Rubio, a right-wing Cuban American and vocal critic of the communist government in Havana, has advocated a tough stance on Venezuela.
This comes after Trump initially seemed open to a transactional relationship with Maduro. Rubio did not rule out the possibility of talks with Maduro.
Earlier this week, Trump stated that Venezuela is "completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the History of South America."
Trump vowed that the United States would stop the shipment of Venezuelan oil, which he described as the unilateral enforcement of sanctions by the United States.
Trump's hardline aide, Stephen Miller, accused Venezuela of "expropriation" as US firms engaged in early oil exploration in Venezuelan sovereign territory.
No Declaration of War
Venezuela, which holds the world's largest oil reserves, has pledged security to ensure its ships keep sailing. Oil is crucial for Venezuela's budget and provides a lifeline to Cuba.
In its latest pressure, the Trump administration on Friday imposed sanctions on several members of Maduro's family or inner circle.
However, the administration has not sought formal approval from the US Congress, which is constitutionally responsible for declaring war.
"I'm not going to speculate about things that, you know, haven't happened and may never happen," Rubio said.
"I can tell you that to this point, nothing has happened that requires us to notify Congress or get congressional approval or cross the threshold in the war," he said.
The US House of Representatives, controlled tightly by Trump's Republican Party, on Wednesday rejected an attempt to restrain Trump from attacking Venezuela without congressional approval.
A Quinnipiac poll conducted earlier this month found that 63 percent of US voters oppose military action in Venezuela, with only 25 percent in favor.
Trump has long criticized US intervention abroad and pledged to keep the country from getting entangled in wars, although he also insists on US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere.
The Trump administration previously argued that its military deployment was in response to drug trafficking, with the US sinking ships to kill individuals accused of smuggling.
Some lawmakers accused war crimes on September 2 when the United States conducted a second attack to kill survivors of the initial attack on a vessel.
104 Killed by US Military
The US military has killed five more people in two attacks on ships in the eastern Pacific Ocean, bringing the death toll from the expanding Washington anti-narcotics campaign to at least 104 since September. This comes amid increased scrutiny of the legality of the operation and concerns of wider regional escalation.
Reported by Al Jazeera, the latest attacks are part of the aggressive campaign launched by Trump, which his administration described as a necessary escalation to stop drug trafficking to the United States.
The US Southern Command stated it conducted "lethal kinetic strikes" against two ships in international waters in the eastern Pacific on Thursday, killing three on one vessel and two on another. The strikes were carried out on the instructions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to the command.
According to ABC News, the US Southern Command said on social media that intelligence confirmed the ships were sailing along known drug trafficking routes and involved in drug smuggling operations, although they did not release evidence to support the claims.
The military shared videos on social media showing the vessels speeding on water before being hit by explosions.
The five deaths occurred after another attack a day earlier that killed four on a separate vessel in the same area, bringing the total death toll from the campaign to at least 104, according to official US figures, as reported by Al Arabiyaa.
Reports from Al Jazeera stated that the campaign has faced increasingly intense criticism after reports that, during the previous September operation, US forces carried out a second attack on victims clinging to the debris from the destroyed vessel.
Legal experts have warned that attacking victims of a sunken ship could be considered a war crime.
Latin American leaders and legal experts have called the attacks "extrajudicial killings," questioning their legality and wider US objectives.
President Trump tied the campaign to pressure on Venezuela, accusing President Nicolas Maduro of overseeing drug trade cartels and threatening to overthrow him from power.
Trump also ordered a large-scale US military deployment to Latin America and recently instructed a "total" naval blockade of oil tanker ships subject to sanctions entering or leaving Venezuelan ports, a move Caracas claimed was aimed at overthrowing the country's regime and seizing its oil wealth.
President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum have both offered to mediate between Washington and Caracas to prevent armed conflict.
Lula stated that Brazil is "very worries" about the crisis and urged for dialogue instead of military force, questioning whether the campaign was driven by interests in Venezuelan oil, vital minerals, or rare earth metals.
Read: Maduro Says Trump Seeks Regime Change in Venezuela
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