US President Donald Trump has said he is ordering a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela.

In a post on Truth Social, he said Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s government had been designated a foreign terrorist organisation and accused it of stealing US assets. His remarks came a week after the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

In a statement, Venezuela’s government said it rejected Trump’s grotesque threat. In his post, Trump said Venezuela was completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.

Trump has also accused Maduro’s government of using stolen oil to finance itself, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping. The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Venezuela of drug smuggling, and since September, the US military has killed at least 90 people in strikes on boats it alleged were carrying fentanyl and other illegal drugs to the US.