CARACAS – In the early hours of Saturday, residents of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, were startled by a series of at least seven explosions accompanied by the sound of aircraft flying at low altitude.

The exact cause of these explosions remains uncertain, as neither the Venezuelan government nor officials from the Pentagon and the White House have issued any statements or clarifications regarding the incident.

Amidst the commotion, many people emerged from their homes into the streets, with witnesses reporting sightings from various parts of the city.

This incident unfolds against a backdrop of heightened U.S. military activities targeting suspected drug-trafficking vessels in recent days. On Friday, Venezuelan authorities expressed a willingness to discuss a potential agreement with the United States aimed at curbing drug trafficking.

In a pre-recorded interview aired on Thursday, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela accused the United States of attempting to instigate a regime change in his country. He alleged that this is part of a larger strategy to gain control over Venezuela’s abundant oil resources, a campaign that has intensified since the U.S. ramped up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea in August.

Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S. The CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels in what was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes on boats in September.

U.S. President Donald Trump for months had threatened that he could soon order strikes on targets on Venezuelan land. The U.S. has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump ordered a blockade of others in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy.

The U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

They followed a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America, including the arrival in November of the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier, which added thousands more troops to what was already the largest military presence in the region in generations.

Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported on the explosions in Caracas on Saturday, showing images of the Venezuelan capital. Iran has been close to Venezuela for years, in part due to their shared enmity of the U.S.