US forces on Saturday stopped a second merchant vessel near Venezuela in international waters, the Associated Press reported, citing two US officials who spoke anonymously. This follows the US seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela on December 10 and comes days after President Donald Trump announced a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. Trump has refused to rule out war with Venezuela. In an interview with NBC News, he said, "I don’t rule it out, no." Amid mounting tension, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered his navy to escort oil tankers, directly challenging the largest US fleet deployed in the region in decades. Trump also accused Venezuela of illegally taking US oil and energy rights, saying, "You remember they took all of our energy rights... They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They took it – they illegally took it." The US president ordered a "total and complete" blockade of sanctioned oil tankers this week. Simultaneously, the US military launched a deadly strike on a drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific on Thursday, killing four people — pushing the total deaths from such operations since September to 99. Maduro insists the US aims for regime change, not just to stop drug trafficking. Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for UN action on Wednesday, stating the United Nations was "nowhere to be seen" and urging it to "prevent any bloodshed."