President Donald Trump has announced a complete closure of the airspace over Venezuela, escalating tensions with threats of potential military intervention.

In a Saturday morning update on his Truth Social platform, Trump urged “airlines, pilots, drug dealers, and human traffickers” to avoid the region entirely.

Over recent months, a strategic deployment of warships, aircraft, and military personnel has taken place near the Caribbean nation, sparking concerns that Trump is laying the groundwork for a military offensive.

The Trump administration has leveled accusations against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, claiming he is at the helm of a criminal enterprise known as the Cartel de los Soles.

Military forces have been gathering in Puerto Rico, approximately 500 miles from Venezuela, with Trump’s military adviser, Gen. Dan Caine, making a visit to the area earlier this week.

The shift in military posture has coincided with warnings from US officials that their operation is entering what they call a ‘new phase’.

The announcement on Saturday morning comes after a New York Times report emerged on Friday that said Trump had spoken with Maduro in the last week.

The conversation included a potential meeting between the two leaders, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly joined the call as well. 

Warships, aircraft and military personnel has moved into position in the last few months, raising fears that Trump is preparing for military action

Trump made the announcement in a post to his Truth Social on Saturday morning

The Trump administration has accused Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, seen here, of leading and protecting a criminal network known as the Cartel de los Soles

Another source clarified to the publication that there are currently no concrete plans between the two leaders.

The commander-in-chief has also cracked down on suspected drug traffickers from the country, launching missile strikes on suspected vessels. 

Current and former officials at the Pentagon have estimated that the lethal campaign against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers has killed over 80 people, including 11 people on board a boat hit by a US missile strike in September, according to the Washington Post.

On Friday the Post reported that two sources with direct knowledge of the operation said that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave intelligence analysts monitoring the boat instructions to ‘kill everybody’ on board on September 2.

The sources said that the first missile struck the boat and set it on fire, but officials saw two survivors clinging to the wreck once the smoke cleared.

In line with Hegseth’s lethal direction, a second missile was fired, and the two survivors were ‘blown apart in the water,’ The Post reported.

Hegseth fired back on the reporting of his chilling message, taking to X on Friday and calling it ‘fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory’.

Since that attack, the Pentagon was estimated to have launched missiles on at least 22 more boats, according to internal data seen by The Post.

The commander-in-chief has also cracked down on suspected drug traffickers from the country, launching missile strikes on suspected vessels

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced earlier this month that, as of Monday, the department named the Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Rubio stated that the Cartel de Los Soles is a group of high-ranking individuals following Maduro who have corrupted the country’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary, including invoking terrorist violence and trafficking drugs.

The Trump administration has been vocally opposed to Maduro, with Rubio calling the leader an illegitimate president.

On Thanksgiving, a week after the reported phone call, Trump told service members that the administration was expanding military efforts to land strikes.

‘In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many. Of course, there aren’t too many coming in by sea anymore,’ he said.

Trump added that it was ‘easier’ to intercept potential drug traffickers on land, and that it would be starting ‘very soon’.

‘We warn them: Stop sending poison to our country,’ he added.

In the past week, Navy vessels have been seen sailing increasingly closer to the South American nation.

The new wave of deployments began in August with the arrival of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group. In October, the US announced that the 1106ft USS Gerald R Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, would also join the mission.

The carrier reached Caribbean waters on November 11 with more than four thousand sailors, fighter jets and support vessels, including the USS Thomas Hudner, USS Rampage, and USS Normandy.

The Ford brings with it F-35C stealth fighters, considered the world’s most advanced fighter to operate from a carrier deck.

The US Navy’s Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, and supporting vessels sailing towards the Caribbean earlier this month. The Ford is the largest aircraft carrier in the world

Gen Dan Caine, centre, with senior military personnel at the Jose Aponte Airfield in Puerto Rico during his visit on November 24

Ground crews work around US fighter jets in Puerto Rico as the army amasses a huge military presence around Venezuela

Additionally, there are 10 U.S. Marine Corps F-35s stationed in Puerto Rico, along with AV-8 Harrier jump jets and AH-1 attack helicopters.

Some of the warships come equipped with extremely powerful surveillance radars capable of detecting surface and aerial targets. They also have long-range missiles that can strike deep into Venezuela.

Roughly two thousand US troops were already in the region before the reinforcements arrived.

With the new arrivals, analysts estimate the total number of personnel at around 12,700.

Maduro, 63, has been the president of Venezuela since 2013. He has been called a dictator who has presided over a corrupt government. 

His premiership has also been dogged by electoral fraud allegations and human rights abuses. 

Thousands of people have been subjected to extrajudicial killings under his watch, while millions of people have been forced to flee the country, according to rights groups. 

Maduro also has the backing of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who has supplied Venezuela with billions of weapons. The two signed a strategic partnership treaty in May this year.