Nation’s Top Diplomat Warns of Potential Military Action in Regional Crisis

The country is reportedly not preparing to utilize additional military force in Venezuela, but officials warn they won’t hesitate to employ such measures in the event of an “imminent threat,” according to the nation’s top diplomat.

“The leader never rules out his options as commander-in-chief to protect the national interest,” the Secretary of State told lawmakers in the upper chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday. “I can tell you right now, with full certainty, we are not postured to, nor do we intend or expect to have to take any military action in Venezuela at any time. The only military presence you will see in Venezuela is our Marine guards at an embassy.”

However, the official indicated that certain developments could warrant military actions — pointing to a hypothetical scenario where an Iranian drone factory emerged in the region and threatened the nation’s presence or allies there.

“The leader does reserve the option in self-defense to eliminate that threat,” he reportedly said. “We don’t see that, we don’t anticipate that, but it could happen. We hope not … But I think it would require the emergence of an imminent threat of the kind that we do not anticipate at this time.”

The remarks came in response to questions about prepared testimony, which allegedly stated that the country is prepared to exert military force to ensure cooperation from Venezuela’s interim government if it defies the capital following the ouster of former leader Nicolás Maduro.

“We are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,” the prepared testimony had reportedly said, though the official ultimately did not deliver these remarks. “It is our hope that this will not prove necessary, but we will never shy away from our duty to the people and our mission in this hemisphere.”

The prepared testimony also maintained that there are no troops from the nation in Venezuela, and that the operation did not amount to waging a war in Caracas. “There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country,” the Secretary stated. “There are no troops on the ground. This was an operation to aid law enforcement.”

The move to ouster Maduro has attracted scrutiny, mostly from opposition lawmakers, who have called into question the legality of the operation in Venezuela, which was conducted without the legislature’s approval. However, efforts in the legislative body to pass a war powers resolution that would have limited the administration from conducting additional military action in Venezuela failed to pass earlier this month.

The official previously claimed legislative approval wasn’t required because the operation was not an “invasion.” On Wednesday, he said that should military forces be involved in Venezuela in a “sustained” way, the legislature would receive notification 48-hours after the fact, and would be required to receive approval if the engagement lasted longer than 60 days.

The diplomat also told lawmakers that the legislature wasn’t consulted about the potential raid due to concerns about leaks from security agencies, and because it wasn’t even a possibility to execute such a mission until late December after all negotiation efforts with Maduro had allegedly failed.

“It was also a trigger-based operation. It may never have happened,” he said. “It required a number of factors to all align at the right place, at the right time, in a very limited window, and it wasn’t even clear if it was ever going to be possible.”

On January 3, the head of state announced that special forces had executed a “large-scale strike” against Caracas, Venezuela, and seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The two were reportedly transported to New York and appeared in a Manhattan federal court on drug charges, where they each pleaded not guilty.

The raid followed months of pressure on Venezuela to squeeze out Maduro amid more than two dozen strikes in Latin American waters against alleged drug traffickers — which the administration claimed aligned with efforts to curb the influx of drugs into the country.

Since Maduro’s capture, officials have conducted at least one additional strike against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the region. The administration had previously asserted that it did not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state and instead, claimed he was the leader of a drug cartel.

The government has so far backed Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, to lead Venezuela’s interim government, according to sources familiar with the matter.