US President Donald Trump is on a rampage —issuing threats of repercussions against Nigeria and Venezuela while directing the Pentagon to restart nuclear tests.
Trump offered conflicting messages regarding possible US involvement in Venezuela, minimizing fears of an immediate conflict with the South American country yet declaring that its leader, Nicolas Maduro’s days were numbered.
The president’s comments, delivered in a CBS interview aired on Sunday, coincide with the United States deploying military forces in the Caribbean and carrying out numerous attacks on suspected drug-smuggling ships, resulting in dozens of deaths.
“I doubt it. I don’t think so,” Trump stated on the “60 Minutes” broadcast when questioned about whether the United States would go to war with Venezuela.
Yet, when pressed on whether Maduro’s tenure as president was limited, Trump responded: “I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.”Maduro, indicted in the United States on narcotics charges, has charged Washington with exploiting drug trafficking allegations as a cover for “imposing regime change” in Caracas to capture Venezuelan oil reserves.
Over 15 US operations against vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific have claimed at least 65 lives in recent weeks, including the most recent on Saturday, drawing condemnation from regional governments.
Analysts argue that these assaults, starting in early September, constitute extrajudicial executions regardless of whether they involve confirmed traffickers. Washington has not released any proof showing that the targeted individuals were transporting drugs or endangering the United States.
Meanwhile, Trump reiterated his warning of a military campaign in Nigeria due to the murders of Christians, following a proposal from the Nigerian presidency for talks to address the matter.
When queried, Trump said: “Could be, I mean, a lot of things — I envisage a lot of things.””They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen,” he added.
In a heated message on his Truth Social account on Saturday, Trump revealed that he had instructed the Pentagon to prepare a potential assault strategy for Nigeria, just one day after asserting that Christianity was “facing an existential threat” in Africa’s most populous nation.
Nigeria, roughly split between a Muslim-dominated north and a predominantly Christian south, is entangled in multiple violent disputes that specialists note have claimed lives from both Christian and Muslim communities indiscriminately.
In his post, Trump said that if Nigeria does not stem the killings, the United States will attack and “it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians.”
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s spokesman, Daniel Bwala, told AFP on Sunday that “Nigeria is the US’s partner in the global fight against terrorism. When leaders meet, there would be better outcomes.”
“Nigeria welcomes US support to fight terrorism as long as it respects our territorial integrity,” he said.
“We do not see the (Trump’s social media post) in the literal sense,” he said.
“We know that Donald Trump has his own style of communication,” he said, suggesting the post was a way to “force a sit-down between the two leaders so they can iron out a common front to fight their insecurity.”
Earlier, Bwala had suggested in a post on X that the two leaders could meet soon.
“As for the differences as to whether terrorists in Nigeria target only Christians or, in fact, all faiths and no faiths, the differences, if they exist, would be discussed and resolved by the two leaders when they meet in the coming days, either in the State House or White House.”
Bwala, who was speaking on the phone from Washington, declined to disclose details of any potential meeting.
Trump posted on Friday, without evidence, that “thousands of Christians are being killed (and) Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.”
Nigeria has denied that Christians have been targeted by jihadist attacks more than other faiths.
“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” Tinubu said on social media Saturday.
By ET Desk with AFP Inputs
