TEHRAN – U.S. President Donald Trump has refused to rule out a military invasion of Venezuela, asserting his objectives are clear to President Nicolás Maduro.

“I don’t rule it out, no,” Trump told NBC News on Thursday, following a “total” maritime blockade and the illegal seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers.

The administration’s aggressive posture—including claims that Venezuelan land and resources effectively “belong” to the U.S.—has been denounced by Caracas as a return to 19th-century imperialism.

Maduro remains defiant, vowing to protect the nation’s wealth for the “sovereign people of Venezuela,” its only legitimate owners.

Addressing the escalation, Maduro emphasized in a Thursday speech that even the U.S. public rejects such hostility: “Let the interventionism end... the vast majority of the population is against any military intervention.”

Recent polling shows broad U.S. public opposition to such measures, with 63% of registered voters saying they oppose military action inside Venezuela and a majority also rejecting strikes on what Washington calls “drug-smuggling” boats that have killed over 90 people.

At the United Nations, Venezuelan Ambassador Samuel Moncada slammed Washington’s rhetoric as a “grotesque offense” to civilized norms, warning that Trump intends to “turn back the clock of history” to impose a colony.