Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has accused the US of a coup attempt after Donald Trump approved CIA operations in the country to tackle alleged drug trafficking.
Mr Trump confirmed his decision, first revealed by The New York Times, as he said large amounts of drugs were entering the US from Venezuela – much of it trafficked by sea.
“We are looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” he said.
When asked why the coastguard wasn’t asked to intercept suspected drug trafficking boats, which has been a longstanding US practice, Mr Trump said the approach had been ineffective.
“I think Venezuela is feeling heat,” he said.
Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday evening. Pic: Reuters
Maduro hits back
He declined to answer whether the CIA has the authority to execute Mr Maduro, who denies accusations from Washington that he has connections to drug trafficking and organised crime.
The US has offered a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to his arrest.
“How long will the CIA continue to carry on with its coups?” he asked after Mr Trump’s comments on Wednesday evening, saying calls for regime change harkened back to “failed eternal wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In a message to the American people, he said in English: “Not war, yes peace. The people of the US, please.”
President Nicolas Maduro. Pic: Reuters
US targets ‘drug boats’
Mr Trump also alleged Venezuela had sent a significant number of prisoners, including individuals from mental health facilities, into the US, though he did not specify the border through which they reportedly entered.
On Tuesday, he announced America had targeted a small boat suspected of drug trafficking in waters off the Venezuelan coast, resulting in the deaths of six people.
According to the president’s post on social media, all those killed were aboard the vessel.
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Footage of the strike was released by Donald Trump on social media. Pic: Truth Social
The incident marked the fifth such fatal strike in the Caribbean, as the Trump administration continues to classify suspected drug traffickers as unlawful combatants to be confronted with military force.
War secretary Pete Hegseth authorised the strike, according to Mr Trump, who released a video of the operation.
The black-and-white footage showed a small boat seemingly stationary on the water. It is struck by a projectile from above and explodes, then drifts while burning for several seconds.
Mr Trump said the “lethal kinetic strike” was in international waters and targeted a boat travelling along a well-known smuggling route.
There has also been a significant increase in US military presence in the southern Caribbean, with at least eight warships, a submarine, and F-35 jets stationed in Puerto Rico.
The India-flagged oil tanker Desh Ujaala is pictured in the Gulf waters near Al-Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT), about 50 kilometres offshore of Iraq’s southern Faw peninsula, on August 5, 2025.
Hussein Faleh | AFP | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him New Delhi will stop buying oil from Russia, though the move will take time.
“[Modi] assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That’s a big stop.” Trump said at the press briefing in the Oval Office. “Now we’ve got to get China to do the same thing.”
He added that Washington was unhappy with New Delhi’s purchases of Russian crude because it allowed Moscow to continue waging its “ridiculous war” in Ukraine.
However, the U.S. president also said that the halt will not be immediate, and there will be “a little bit of a process,” without giving a clear timeline.
India’s external affairs ministry said Friday that the country’s oil import decisions are driven by efforts to protect consumers by ensuring stable energy prices and securing supplies.
The ministry’s priority was to “safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
He added that India’s import policies are guided “entirely” by that goal.
Jaiswal said that India has sought for years to expand energy trade with the U.S. “This has steadily progressed in the last decade,” he said, adding that “the current Administration has shown interest in deepening energy cooperation with India. Discussions are ongoing.”
India and Russian crude
India’s imports of Russian oil have been a sticking point in the relationship between Washington and New Delhi. Trump slapped additional tariffs of 25% on India back in August, raising the total levy to 50%, while India has called out the U.S. for its trade with Russia.
“If India doesn’t buy [Russian] oil, it makes [ending the war] much easier,” Trump said. “They assured me within a short period of time, they will not be buying oil from Russia, and they will go back to Russia after the war is over.”
On Thursday, Brent crude futures climbed 0.82% to $62.43 a barrel by 10:31 p.m. ET, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 0.89% to $58.79.
India is one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil. Data from research firm Kpler shows Russia exports about 3.35 million barrels of crude per day, with India taking about 1.7 million and China 1.1 million.
New Delhi has defended those purchases, with Energy Minister Hardeep Singh Puri telling CNBC in July that New Delhi helped stabilize global energy prices and was encouraged by the U.S. to do so.
“If people or countries had stopped buying at that stage, the price of oil would have gone up to 130 dollars a barrel. That was a situation in which we were advised, including by our friends in the United States, to please buy Russian oil, but within the price cap,” Puri said.
Russian sales of crude oil have been placed under a price cap by the G7 nations and the European Union since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
That price cap, set at $47.6 per barrel, aims to limit Moscow’s revenue from oil exports, constricting the country’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
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