The Trump administration’s seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela is one of the most dramatic twists yet in a military pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Now, President Donald Trump wants Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out of power. Maduro’s “days are numbered,” Trump told Politico in an interview released on Dec. 9. His Administration considers Maduro the head of a government-sponsored cocaine smuggling syndicate.

Using U.S. forces to take control of a merchant ship is unusual and marks the Trump administration's latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday held a second meeting in 17 days with the Venezuelan ambassador to Russia, at a time of mounting pressure by U.S. President Donald Trump for the removal of Venezuela's president,

In a wide-ranging interview with Politico, Trump also said Russia has the upper hand in negotiations over its war with Ukraine and called European leaders "weak."

President Trump says destroying drug boats is saving Americans' lives. But Venezuela is linked to cocaine, which is far less deadly than fentanyl.

The president told POLITICO on Monday that he wouldn’t rule out a ground invasion of the South American country.

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the U.S. seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid escalating tensions between the administration and the region.