US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused the illegitimate regime in Venezuela of cooperating with criminals that threaten the national security of the United States.
Rubio said Friday the regime of President Nicolas Maduro openly cooperates with Iran, Hezbollah, and drug trafficking groups.
“They (Venezuela regime) operate and cooperate with terrorist organizations against the national interest of the United States, not just cooperate, but partner with and participate in activities to threaten the national interest of the United States,” he told reporters at a news conference at the State Department.
According to Rubio, Venezuela is a country that is not just an illegitimate regime that does not cooperate with the US but also a regime that openly cooperates with criminal and terrorist elements, including Hezbollah, Iran and others.
“And clearly these narco groups cooperate openly from there,” the Secretary of State said.
“We have a regime that cooperates with Iran, that cooperates with Hezbollah; that cooperates with narcotrafficking and narcoterrorist organizations, inclusive not just protecting their shipments and allowing them to operate with impunity, but also allows some of them to control territory,” he added.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said he was leaving the possibility of war with Venezuela on the table, according to an interview with NBC News published on Friday.
“I don't rule it out, no,” he told NBC News in a phone interview.
Trump also said there would be additional seizures of oil tankers near Venezuelan waters, according to the interview. The US seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week.
“If they're foolish enough to be sailing along, they'll be sailing along back into one of our harbors,” he told NBC News.
On Tuesday, Trump ordered a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in Washington's latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro's government, targeting its main source of income, following which Venezuela's government said it rejected Trump's “grotesque threat.”
