Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a naval blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” leaving and heading to Venezuela, sharply escalating his pressure campaign against Caracas.

The US has for months been building a major military deployment in the Caribbean – with the stated goal of combatting drug trafficking, but Venezuela views the operation as a campaign to oust Nicolas Maduro.

Trump said the armada – which includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier – “will only get bigger” until Venezuela returns “to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us”.