Satellite images have revealed a US warship stationed off the coast of Venezuela, sparking concerns of further military escalation between the two countries.
The USS Iwo Jima has been positioned less than 200km from the Venezuelan coast in the Caribbean Sea, with two other USS destroyers alongside it.
The US has also deployed aircraft and thousands of troops in the region in recent weeks, with 14 per cent of its Navy fleet now stationed in the Caribbean.
Donald Trump’s administration has claimed the concerted ramping-up of military capabilities in the region aims to tackle the flow of illegal drugs into the US. But the move has raised speculation the US might be seeking to attack key Venezuelan military targets without congressional approval.
What is the US campaign against Venezuela?
Since 2 September, the US has conducted air strikes on 10 vessels in the Caribbean Sea which authorities suspected of intending to illegally traffic drugs into the country.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that each boat destroyed saves “25,000 American lives” by reducing the amount of potentially fatal drugs like fentanyl entering the US.
But the US’s own intelligence suggests fentanyl is mainly supplied through its land border with Mexico, not through small vessels travelling from Venezuela.
The US Navy destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) sails from the Port of Spain, off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago (Photo: Andrea de Silva/Reuters)The UN has said that these air strikes also violate international human rights law.
Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights chief, said on Friday: “Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, in circumstances that find no justification in international law.
“These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable. The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.”
Why is the US building its military presence?
Last week, the Department of Defence announced the world’s largest warship, USS Gerald R Ford, would be redirected from the Mediterranean Sea to US Southern Command’s Area of Responsibility near Venezuela.
Posting on X, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the enhanced “force presence” in the region “will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere”.
The ship carries dozens of F-18 super hornet jets, and the announcement sparked fears of potential land attacks.
Yesterday, Trump told White House reporters that he had not yet made a decision on whether the US would strike military targets on Venezuelan land.
The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) at the US 5th Fleet area of operations in 2018 (Photo: Gado Images/Photodisc via Getty Images)This came after a report in the Miami Herald that he could begin airstrikes as soon as Friday.
Trump had previously said: “The land is going to be next. The land drugs are much more dangerous for them. It’s going to be much more dangerous. You’ll be seeing that soon.”
What is the USS Iwo Jima doing there?
On Thursday, the US Southern Command posted photos to X, showing Marines conducting “live-fire training” aboard the ship.
The caption said they were stationed in the Caribbean to support Trump’s “priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland”.
A live fire exercise is an opportunity for forces to practice firing live ammunition, rather than blanks, to prepare for real combat.
The USS Iwo Jima is a landing helicopter dock, which means it is capable of launching amphibious invasions.
U.S. Marines with the @22nd_MEU conduct live-fire training on the flight deck of USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) in the Caribbean Sea. U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of the #SOUTHCOM mission, @DeptofWar-directed operations, and @POTUS' priorities to disrupt… pic.twitter.com/Ta1xknVsPc
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) October 30, 2025Experts have said the deployment of the ship so close to Venezuelan land may be seen as an intimidation tactic against the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Along with the two destroyers in its vicinity, the warship represents another significant escalation of the US military presence in the area.
What is the response in Venezuela?
Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, has accused the US of mounting an attempted regime change.
In response to the announcement the USS Gerald R. Ford would be moved to the Caribbean last week, Maduro said Trump was looking for conflict.
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“They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war,” he told state media.
The US does not recognise Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, due to the absence of “basic transparency and integrity measures” in his latest election in 2024.
In August, the US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced there would be a $50m (£36m) reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest on drug trafficking charges.
It is widely believed that Trump is using the cover of drug cartels as an excuse to further mount military operations in Venezuela and oust Maduro from office.
Maduro has accused the US of “seeking a regime change through military threat”, though the Trump administration has strongly denied this.
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