Trump says the U.S. has extracted ‘billions and billions of barrels of oil’ from Venezuela
President Donald Trump said that the United States has extracted “billions and billions of barrels of oil” from Venezuela, describing the resource extraction as compensation for the U.S. military operation that removed former President Nicolás Maduro from power in January.
Speaking at a rally in Las Vegas, Nev., Trump described Venezuela as “one of the most fertile places for oil in the world.” He told the crowd the U.S. has more than recouped the cost of the operation through the oil taken from the country, saying Washington had gotten its money back “many, many, many times” over.
He justified the extraction by invoking the phrase often associated with war and conquest, telling the audience, “It’s the old-fashioned way. To the victor belong the spoils.”
Trump also drew a direct comparison between Venezuela and Iran, where U.S. and Israeli forces have been engaged in military operations since February.
He said at the rally, “And we’re doing the same thing, by the way, in the lovely Islamic Republic of Iran. We’re doing — we’re knocking the h*** out of them.”
The remarks marked a notable shift from Trump’s earlier framing of the January operation in Caracas, which the administration originally described as an effort to bring peace and stability to Venezuela.
At the Las Vegas rally, Trump also criticized the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua while saying his overall view of the country had changed for the better, telling supporters, “But now, I love Venezuela. We’re doing great in Venezuela.”
The legal question around seizing oil
Seizing a nation’s natural resources during a military occupation is restricted under international law.
The Hague Regulations of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibit the plunder of public or private property during armed conflict or occupation. Under those legal frameworks, an occupying power is generally treated as a temporary administrator of a territory’s resources, to administer the territory and support the occupation, but not to extract them for its own economic benefit.
Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Iran, though years of U.S. sanctions and underinvestment had left much of that capacity underdeveloped before the change in government.
The capture of Maduro and Venezuela’s new government
Trump’s comments referenced the U.S. military operation in Caracas on January 3, during which American special forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Maduro was flown to New York, where he has since appeared in federal court on drug trafficking charges and remains in custody awaiting trial.
Following Maduro’s removal, Venezuela’s Supreme Court ordered Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to assume the role of interim president to preserve what the court described as administrative continuity. Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally who previously served as oil minister and vice president, was sworn in on January 5.
Trump has said he believes Rodríguez is “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” while also warning she would face serious consequences if she did not comply with U.S. demands.
Trump’s long-standing criticism of the Iraq War
During the Las Vegas rally, Trump also revisited a criticism he has repeated for years: his view that the George W. Bush administration made a mistake by not taking control of Iraqi oil following the 2003 invasion.
Trump has long argued that doing so would have helped offset the cost of the war, and he has periodically cited it as a reason the U.S. should treat captured resources differently in future conflicts. His comments in Las Vegas continued that argument, this time applying it to Venezuela and, by extension, to Iran.