'It's All About the Oil,' Says Venezuelan Defense Minister After 'Incoherent' Trump Claims

As President Donald Trump continues his march toward a US war on Venezuela, the South American country's defense minister on Wednesday blasted his "delusional" and "completely incoherent" claims, and echoed warnings from around the world that "it's all about the oil."

In addition to killing nearly 100 people by bombing alleged drug smuggling boats, Trump has authorized covert Central Intelligence Agency action in Venezuela and repeatedly threatened attacks on land. Late Tuesday, Trump declared a naval blockade that he said will continue until the nation returns to the US "all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us."

Trump appears to be referring to the presence that US companies had in Venezuela before the country nationalized its oil industry in the 1970s. On Wednesday, the Republican president told reporters: "Getting land, oil rights, whatever we had—they took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn't watching. But they're not gonna do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out, and we want it back."

In a Wednesday speech, Venezuela's defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López, pushed back against Trump's blockade, threats of military action, and "delirious" claims that the country stole its own oil, land, and other assets from the United States. The minister also reiterated a declaration from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that the US seizing oil tankers is "piracy."

As CNN reported, Maduro—whom Trump aims to oust from power—gave a similar speech about the US administration's purported goal of combating drug trafficking in Caracas on Wednesday.

"It is simply a warmongering and colonialist pretense, and we have said so many times, and now everyone sees the truth. The truth has been revealed," Maduro said. "The aim in Venezuela is a regime change to impose a puppet government that wouldn't last 47 hours, that would hand over the Constitution, sovereignty, and all the wealth, turning Venezuela into a colony. It will simply never happen."

According to Anadolu Agency, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on social media this week: "We will continue to be free and independent in our energy relations. Together with President Nicolás Maduro, we will continue to defend the homeland.”

Although the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Wednesday night narrowly defeated a pair of war powers resolutions aimed at reining in Trump's actions toward Venezuela, lawmakers from both major parties have also called out the administration's drug claims and argued against launching another US war for oil.

Responding to a clip of Trump's comments to reporters on Wednesday, US Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), who sponsored one of the resolutions, wrote on social media: "I've said it many times before: This is not about drugs. If the goal were stopping narcotics, this administration would not be talking about oil rights or seizing tankers. That is not a lawful basis for war."

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the few Republicans who supported the resolutions, took to the House floor ahead of the votes on Wednesday to denounce Trump's march toward an unconstitutional war and declare that "this is about oil and regime change."