United States orders total blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers

Exam-focused facts from the 18 December 2025 current affairs briefing.

Key facts

Trump ordered 'a total and complete' blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
Venezuela's government denounced the move as 'warmongering threats'.
The US has seized an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast and conducted deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats.
More than 30 of the 80 ships in Venezuelan waters or approaching the country were under US sanctions.
Trump wrote that Venezuela was 'completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America'.