Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro says escalating pressure from the US comes down to one thing: Washington wants to grab the South American nation's vast oil reserves.

The Trump administration’s seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela is one of the most dramatic twists yet in a military pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuela’s foreign affairs minister denounced the seizure, calling it a “blatant theft” and “an act of international piracy.”

Now, President Donald Trump wants Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out of power. Maduro’s “days are numbered,” Trump told Politico in an interview released on Dec. 9. His Administration considers Maduro the head of a government-sponsored cocaine smuggling syndicate.

We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.” Now, as the first year of his second term draws to a close, President Trump is mobilizing for war against … Venezuela? The buildup to a possible conflict with Venezuela,

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the U.S. seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid escalating tensions between the administration and the region.