If confirmed, the move would be the start of President Trump’s plan to exploit the country’s vast reserves after U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro.

Analysts say the Cold War agreement allows the president to increase the American military presence almost at will.

Needing U.S. support to fend off Russia in Ukraine, European leaders have been cautious about criticizing President Trump on Greenland, Iran, Venezuela and much else.

The development deepens the confrontation over the tanker formerly known as the Bella 1, which the United States wants to seize but which Russia has sought to protect.

With widespread power outages, medicine shortages and rising food prices, experts say Cuba’s economy has never been worse, with the crisis coming just as the supply of Venezuelan oil is threatened.

The discussions, also attended by top U.S. negotiators and other allies of Ukraine, are intended to make progress on European commitments to postwar security if a cease-fire is reached.

President Trump told NBC News that the United States must “nurse the country back to health” before elections can be held there, and named a group of U.S. officials to oversee next steps.

Venezuela could lose the bulk of its oil export revenues this year if the U.S. blockade stays in place, according to internal government estimates, a scenario that would set off a humanitarian crisis.

Officials in Crans-Montana, the Swiss alpine resort town where a bar fire killed 40 people last week, are facing growing accusations of lax oversight.

The U.S. assault on Venezuela points to a world where big powers seek to call the shots in their regions, an idea Beijing knows well.