US warships in the region, the green light for covert operations, and deadly strikes on what the Trump administration claims are “narco terrorists” – could America’s next move be to strike Venezuela?

President Donald Trump has accused President Nicolas Maduro of leading an organised crime gang (without providing evidence) and declined to answer when questioned if the CIA has the authority to assassinate him.

In return, the Venezuelan leader has accused Mr Trump of seeking regime change and of “fabricating a new eternal war” against his country, as he appealed to the American people for peace.

The rhetoric coming out of the White House, coupled with the presence of military ships in the region, has raised questions about a possible armed conflict between the US and Venezuela.

The question in the air is: Will the US actually attack Venezuela?

What are US warships doing?

The docking of the USS Gravely guided missile destroyer in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago – just 25 miles from the coast of Venezuela – is the latest incident to escalate tensions.

Venezuela’s government condemned the arrival and called it a provocation by Trinidad and Tobago and the US.

The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier – the largest warship in the world – is also moving closer to Venezuela.

It comes as the US has acknowledged carrying out at least seven strikes since September on vessels near Venezuela that it claims were transporting drugs, killing at least 32 people.

Venezuela’s government says the strikes are illegal, amount to murder, and are acts of aggression.

Earlier this month, Trump confirmed he has authorised the CIA to carry out covert operations – including lethal operations – in Venezuela.

The CIA has a long history of operations in Latin America, with actions varying widely from direct paramilitary engagement to intelligence gathering and support roles with little to no physical footprint.

What could happen?

To get an idea of what could happen next, Sky News spoke to Dr Carlos Solar, an expert on Latin American security at the RUSI defence thinktank.

He says the level of military strategy the US is applying around Venezuela seems “unproportionate” for the task of tackling drug trafficking.

“A build-up this size can only suggest there’s a strategic military goal,” he added.

Dr Solar says the role of the CIA is “not surprising”, as the US often deploys spying capabilities in countries deemed adversarial.

“With the chances of a military conflict looming, having the most intelligence capable on the ground would be reasonable.”

Asked what could happen next, Dr Solar told Sky News: “One scenario is Trump authorises a round of long-range precision attacks in Venezuela’s territory linked to drug trafficking operations, eventually forcing Maduro to reciprocate later.

“We saw this early in the year when the US attacked Iran’s nuclear facilitates and Tehran returned missiles to US bases in Qatar.

“If the US decides to move more strongly, destroying all critical military targets from the Venezuelan forces, then the US could have Maduro surrender and leave the country immediately.

“This would be the least disruptive without causing greater destabilisation of the country.”

What does Trump say about Venezuela?

Trump said his reasons for the strikes on vessels were the migration of Venezuelans, allegedly including former prisoners, to the US – and drug trafficking.

“I authorised for two reasons really,” he said. “Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America…they came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border,” he told reporters. “And the other thing are drugs.”

He has accused Venezuela of trafficking huge amounts of cocaine into the US, and alleged Mr Maduro is the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang – a claim most of his own intelligence agencies do not support.

The US leader has not provided evidence for the claim about prisoners, and Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay pointed out the fentanyl drug that is causing destruction in America is largely manufactured in Mexico, not Venezuela.

“We are looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” Mr Trump added. It is not clear what actions this could entail.

The Pentagon recently disclosed to US Congress that the president has determined the US is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.

When asked if the CIA has the authority to execute Maduro, which would be a massive intervention, Trump declined to answer. Instead, he said: “I think Venezuela is feeling heat.”

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What does Venezuela’s leader say?

Maduro has been in power since 2013, including re-elections in contests marred by accusations of fraud.

The last decade has seen his country gripped by spiralling hyperinflation and a humanitarian crisis that has seen an estimated eight million Venezuelans flee the country.

As the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier moved closer to Venezuela, Maduro accused the US government of “fabricating a new eternal war” against his country.

“They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war that we will avoid,” he said in a national address.

“They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one,” he added, perhaps a reference to Trump’s claim that he is the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang and that his country trafficks cocaine into the US.

“Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves.”

Tren de Aragua, which traces its roots to a Venezuelan prison, is not known for having a big role in global drug trafficking but instead for its involvement in contract killings, extortion, and people smuggling.

Venezuela has raised a complaint to the UN Security Council and demanded accountability from the US.

An estimated 1.2 million people a week have conversations with ChatGPT that indicate they are planning to take their own lives.

The figure comes from its parent company OpenAI, which revealed 0.15% of users send messages including “explicit indicators of potential suicide planning or intent”.

Earlier this month, the company’s chief executive Sam Altman estimated that ChatGPT now has more than 800 million weekly active users.

While the tech giant does aim to direct vulnerable people to crisis helplines, it admitted “in some rare cases, the model may not behave as intended in these sensitive situations”.

OpenAI evaluated over 1,000 “challenging self-harm and suicide conversations” with its latest model GPT-5 and found it was compliant with “desired behaviours” 91% of the time.

But this would potentially mean that tens of thousands of people are being exposed to AI content that could exacerbate mental health problems.

The company has previously warned that safeguards designed to protect users can be weakened in longer conversations – and work is under way to address this.

“ChatGPT may correctly point to a suicide hotline when someone first mentions intent, but after many messages over a long period of time, it might eventually offer an answer that goes against our safeguards,” OpenAI explained.

OpenAI’s blog post added: “Mental health symptoms and emotional distress are universally present in human societies, and an increasing user base means that some portion of ChatGPT conversations include these situations.”

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A grieving family is currently in the process of suing OpenAI – and allege ChatGPT was to blame for their 16-year-old boy’s death.

Adam Raine’s parents claim the tool “actively helped him explore suicide methods” and offered to draft a note to his relatives.

Court filings suggest that, hours before he died, the teenager uploaded a photo that appeared to show his suicide plan – and when he asked whether it would work, ChatGPT offered to help him “upgrade” it.

Last week, the Raines updated their lawsuit and accused OpenAI of weakening the safeguards to prevent self-harm in the weeks before his death in April this year.

In a statement, the company said: “Our deepest sympathies are with the Raine family for their unthinkable loss. Teen wellbeing is a top priority for us – minors deserve strong protections, especially in sensitive moments.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.

Health officials are calling for people to ensure they are vaccinated against mpox, as there are indications the ‘clade Ib’ strain has spread locally in some European nations.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is aware of small numbers of cases of this strain in Portugal, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as the US.

It says most of the new cases identified have been in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, a population in which clade Ib mpox transmission has not previously been observed.

There are 16 clade Ib cases in the UK to date – all in England and unrelated to transmission within GBMSM (Gay, bisexual and other men-who-have-sex-with-men) community, a spokesperson for the agency said.

“The ways in which we are seeing mpox continue to spread globally is a reminder to come forward for the vaccine, if you are eligible,” said Dr Katy Sinka, head of sexually transmitted infections at UKHSA.

The UK has a routine mpox vaccination programme in place for eligible groups, including those who:

• have multiple sexual partners
• have group sex
• visit sex-on-premises venues

Although there are no studies on vaccine effectiveness against clade Ib mpox, studies show that the vaccine is around 75 to 80% effective in protecting people against clade II.

The UKHSA said that since the last technical assessment on 19 December last year, the “probability of importation into the UK has increased from medium to high”.

The agency said, however, that the risk of onwards transmission in the UK is “likely to be controlled to some degree by the existing GBMSM vaccination programme and remains low to medium at present”.

Mpox is generally a mild infection, and clade Ib and la strains are no longer classified as a high-consequence infectious disease, but it can be severe in some cases, the UKHSA said.

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Charities have also called for people to get vaccinated prior to travelling to autumn Winter Pride events in Europe.

Common mpox symptoms include a skin rash or pus-filled lesions, which can last two to four weeks.

The infection can also cause fever, headaches, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.