Trump Says U.S. Captures Nicolas Maduro After Strikes Hit Caracas

Nicolás Maduro’s downfall and capture by U.S. forces has triggered a rapid, multi-country crisis centered on Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and on what happens next for the country’s political leadership and international partnerships.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that President Donald Trump said the United States “has captured and holds Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro” after a large-scale strike, and that Trump told reporters the United States will “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.”

Al Jazeera

The same account says Maduro—who was indicted by the United States in 2020—was on board the US warship USS Iwo Jima and was heading to New York, where he will face charges alleging “drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies.”

The Times of Israel describes the operation as a “daring special forces raid to snatch Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro from one of his homes and take him into custody to face narcotics and terrorism charges in the US,” and it frames the raid as a message that “Trump fires a message to Iran and Hamas. Will they listen?”

South China Morning Post similarly reports that U.S. military strikes hit Venezuela’s capital before dawn on Saturday, shaking Caracas as Trump reported that Maduro and his wife were captured and taken out of the country by U.S. forces.

In the same SMCP account, Trump said the U.S. neutralized Venezuelan forces “in the dark of night” after degrading local power systems “due to a certain expertise we have,” and he added that U.S. oil companies would “spend billions” upgrading the nation’s oil infrastructure.

The sources place the raid within a longer arc of U.S. pressure on Venezuela and within a contested narrative about Maduro’s legitimacy, while also tying the timing to broader geopolitical messaging aimed at Iran.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says the action came “after months of rising economic and military pressure from Washington on the South American country,” including intercepting Venezuelan oil tankers and killing dozens in strikes on boats near its waters that allegedly were carrying drugs.

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It also says Washington has contested Maduro’s legitimacy “since he was the hand-picked successor to Hugo Chavez in 2013,” pointing to successive elections that the opposition and others said were rigged in his favor.

The Times of Israel frames the operation as part of a wider pattern of Trump’s willingness to use military force, citing “his January 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani” and “the US strikes on nuclear sites at the tail end of Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June.”

Euronews adds that the fall of Maduro coincided with “Trump's explicit messages against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and it describes the raid as part of a cluster of developments that “from Venezuela to Iran, Syria and beyond” refocused attention on U.S. foreign policy.

The same Euronews account says Venezuelan oil industry officials declared that “the country's main facilities, which hold the world's largest proven oil reserves, have not been damaged and production and refining are continuing,” while CTech argues the removal threatens Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks and Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure.

The capture and strikes drew immediate condemnation and competing demands from multiple governments, with each side framing the event in terms of sovereignty, legitimacy, and regional security.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that the action was “sharply condemned by Iran, Russia, and other allies of the South American country,” and it quotes UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling the U.S. action a “dangerous precedent.”

It also says Russia urged Washington to release Maduro, quoting the Russian Foreign Ministry statement: “we strongly urge the American leadership to reconsider its position and release the legally elected president of a sovereign country and his wife.”

The same RFE/RL account reports that Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the attack violates “Venezuela's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the UN charter,” adding that the U.S. action is “a gross violation of regional and international peace and security.”

Euronews describes China’s response as rhetorical but pointed, quoting the Chinese Foreign Ministry: “China is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the reckless use of force by the United States against a sovereign state,” and it adds that Beijing called on the U.S. “to ensure the personal safety of President Maduro and his wife, release them at once, stop toppling the government of Venezuela, and resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation.”

The Times of Israel adds that Netanyahu congratulated Trump for “bold and historic leadership on behalf of freedom and justice,” while also quoting Daniel Wajner that the fall of Maduro would “reinforce perceptions of the gradual erosion of the Iran-Hezbollah axis’s global reach.”

While all the sources describe the same core event—U.S. strikes, Maduro’s capture, and international condemnation—they diverge in how they interpret what the raid means for Iran, for Hezbollah, and for other external partners.

Iran International argues that “Iran’s strategic investments in the country’s oil refining sector are facing a sudden and uncertain reckoning,” and it frames the risk as shifting from “sheltered geopolitical instruments into exposed financial and legal liabilities.”

Brookings

CTech similarly says “Regime change in Venezuela could unravel an economic lifeline for Iran and Hezbollah,” emphasizing that the “removal of Maduro threatens Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks and Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure.”

Quillette, by contrast, frames Venezuela as an “Iran’s Forward-Operating Base in the West,” asserting that “Venezuela held high strategic value—it was a means of evading sanctions” and a “gateway to Latin America where terror plots could be hatched against the United States and Israel.”

Euronews adds a different emphasis by linking the fall of Maduro to “Trump's explicit messages against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” while also stating that Venezuelan oil industry officials said “production and refining are continuing.”

The Times of Israel ties the raid to Iran’s regional posture, quoting Daniel Wajner that the development would “underscore the gap between their symbolic projection of power and their actual capabilities,” while Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty emphasizes the legal and sovereignty dispute through the UN and foreign ministries’ language.

The sources converge on one central consequence: the Maduro transition is expected to reshape sanctions-evasion pathways, oil contracting, and the operational space for Iran-linked projects and networks, even as the immediate status of Venezuela’s oil facilities is disputed.

Iran International warns that “With the interim government in Caracas signaling openness to cooperation with the United States, Iran’s refinery projects risk shifting from sheltered geopolitical instruments into exposed financial and legal liabilities,” and it describes how the ventures were “designed to circumvent US sanctions.”

CNBC

It provides a specific refinery focus, saying “El Palito, a 140,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Carabobo state,” and it states that “In May 2022, Tehran signed a $117 million contract with PDVSA to repair and expand the facility.”

Iran International also says that “By mid-2024, Iranian officials said they had managed to restore operations to about 20 percent of capacity amid chronic power outages and feedstock shortages,” and it adds that “leaked documents from late 2025” suggest “Iran-linked projects in Venezuela totaled roughly $4.7 billion.”

CTech adds that the real damage depends on “the direction Caracas takes in the post-Maduro period,” and it argues that if Caracas “moves to re-engage with Western economies,” “one of the fastest, cheapest, and most symbolic steps would be a sharp cooling of relations with Tehran.”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty underscores the uncertainty by saying “What happens next in Venezuela is far from clear,” even as it reports that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela and that Maduro and his wife are heading to New York to face charges.