The BLUF - December 30th

Good morning everyone,

This is Atlas, and you’re reading the Bottom Line Up Front, where we cover the top geopolitical stories from around the world every Tuesday!

Today’s topics:

• U.S. Military Hit Venezuela Drug Facility ‘Very Hard’ Per President Trump

• Trump Threatens More Strikes Against Iran If Nuclear Program Is Rebuilt

• President Trump Becomes First Non-Israeli To Receive ‘Israel Prize’

U.S. Military Hit Venezuela Drug Facility ‘Very Hard’ Per President Trump

_{By: Atlas}

President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States had struck and destroyed a dock facility in Venezuela where he alleged boats were loaded with drugs, marking what would be the first publicly acknowledged land-based U.S. operation inside the country since Washington launched its pressure campaign against the Maduro government four months ago.

Trump made the comments while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

"There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs," Trump told reporters. "They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It's the implementation area. That's where they implement. And that is no longer around."

The president first referenced the strike during a Friday radio interview with WABC host John Catsimatidis, saying, "I don't know if you read or saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard."

Trump declined to specify whether the U.S. military or the CIA carried out the operation, or exactly where it occurred.

"I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was. But you know it was along the shore," Trump said.

Few official details released

The Pentagon on Monday referred questions about the strike to the White House, which did not immediately respond to requests for additional information. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. military social media accounts have typically announced each boat strike in posts on X, but no such notification has been issued regarding any attack on a land facility.

American officials told The New York Times that the president was referring to a drug facility that had been eliminated. However, the operation has not been officially confirmed by U.S. defense officials, and the White House has issued no formal statement.

The press office of Venezuela's government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump's claims.

In October, Trump confirmed he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. The agency did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

Possible site identified in western Venezuela

While Venezuelan state-controlled media have not reported any U.S. attack, social media users in western Venezuela circulated images and videos over the weekend showing a large fire at what appeared to be a warehouse near the city of Maracaibo.

According to local reports, the blaze erupted early Tuesday morning at the Primazol facility in the city of San Francisco, in Zulia state, approximately 700 kilometers west of Caracas and near Lake Maracaibo, one of the largest bodies of water in South America.

Local authorities rejected any connection to foreign military action. Mayor Héctor Soto, a political ally of President Nicolás Maduro, told local media the fire was caused by an electrical failure. He said no one was injured and dismissed suggestions that the incident was linked to an external attack.

"Let the Americans — the gringos, in this case Donald Trump and all his people — continue to dream," Soto said. "We will defend the homeland of Bolívar."

Primazol dismissed in a statement unofficial reports linking the fire to Trump's statements, calling it an "incident." The cause of the blaze has not been independently verified.

Escalation of pressure campaign

The alleged strike represents a significant escalation in Washington's confrontation with Venezuela. For months, Trump has suggested he may conduct land strikes in South America, and in recent weeks has said the U.S. would move beyond striking boats and would strike on land "soon."

Since early September, the U.S. military has carried out at least 30 strikes against boats accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 107 people, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. Defense Secretary Hegseth announced Monday that U.S. forces had conducted another strike in the eastern Pacific, killing two additional people described as "male narco-terrorists."

The strikes have been widely criticized by human rights organizations and legal scholars as extrajudicial killings. Several groups have accused the United States of violating both domestic and international law. The administration has rejected those characterizations, insisting all actions comply with international law and are conducted in self-defense.

Along with the strikes, the U.S. has sent warships to the region, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and several guided-missile destroyers. More than 15,000 troops have been deployed as part of what officials describe as one of the largest U.S. military buildups in the Caribbean in decades.

The administration has also seized two oil tankers and pursued a third as part of a blockade Trump ordered on sanctioned vessels entering and leaving Venezuela.

Administration frames campaign as war on cartels

The Trump administration has said it is in "armed conflict" with drug cartels and seeking to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States. Officials have accused Maduro and senior Venezuelan officials of leading what they call the "Cartel of the Suns," a network of military and political figures allegedly involved in large-scale cocaine trafficking.

U.S. authorities have offered a reward of up to $50 million for information leading to Maduro's arrest on charges including narco-terrorism and conspiracy. The administration has designated the Venezuelan government a "foreign terrorist organization."

Trump said Monday that he had spoken "very recently" with Maduro by phone but characterized the conversation as unproductive. "Not much came of it," he said.

Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from power and seize control of Venezuela's oil reserves, which are the world's largest. Venezuelan officials say the country is the victim of an international disinformation campaign aimed at undermining its sovereignty.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published this month that Trump "wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro 'cries uncle.'"

Venezuela produces roughly 1 million barrels of oil per day. The Trump administration has argued that oil revenues are being funneled into drug trafficking, corruption and the financing of armed groups.

"The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping," Trump wrote on social media earlier this month.

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