„We‘ve been pulling together a coalition of countries … working on a political, diplomatic plan, but also looking at military capabilities and … the logistics of actually moving vessels through the Strait,“ Starmer said during his visit to the Gulf.
Archiv: Kriegserklärungen / Mobilmachungen / declarations of war / mobilizations
Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan on the Strait of Hormuz: 19 March 2026
Consistent with UNSC Resolution 2817, we emphasise that such interference with international shipping and the disruption of global energy supply chains constitute a threat to international peace and security.
Six U.S. allies back potential Strait of Hormuz coalition
Yes, but: France, Germany, Italy and Japan have previously all publicly ruled out sending naval vessels to the strait during the war.
Constitution of the United States: Article I
Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
Live updates: U.S. and Israel launch major attack on Iran
MAJOR JOINT ATTACK: The United States launched „major combat operations“ in Iran, joined by Israel, President Donald Trump announced in a video message today.
IRAN‘S LEADERS TARGETED: Israel targeted Iranian political and military leaders, two U.S. officials told NBC News, while the U.S. aimed to take out Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
TRUMP URGES REGIME CHANGE: Trump urged Iranians to “take over your government” when the strikes are over. “The hour of your freedom is at hand,” he said.
DEATH TOLL: The Iranian Red Crescent said that more than 200 people have been killed and roughly 700 others have been injured following the attacks.
Scoop: Trump‘s envoy secretly met Iran‘s exiled crown prince
White House envoy Steve Witkoff met secretly over the weekend with the exiled former crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, to discuss the protests raging in Iran, according to a senior U.S. official.
„Hilfe ist auf dem Weg“: Trump ruft indirekt zu Umsturz im Iran auf
Trump schrieb in Großbuchstaben auch, dass Hilfe „auf dem Weg“ sei. Was er damit meinte, blieb unbeantwortet. Wegen der schweren Gewalt gegen Demonstrierende hatte Trump der iranischen Führung bereits zuvor mit militärischen Mitteln gedroht. Die USA nähmen die Lage im Iran sehr ernst, so Trump am Sonntag. „Das Militär befasst sich damit, und wir prüfen einige sehr drastische Optionen. Wir werden eine Entscheidung treffen.“
Salt Lake City protesters call on Congress to rein in presidential war powers
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A rally took place in Salt Lake City Monday. The protest was planned before the United States performed a military operation and took Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro into custody, but now, organizers said that it’s more relevant than ever.
The protesters called on Utah’s Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis to support the bipartisan War Powers Resolution in the Senate, which will be voted on this week. It would prohibit President Trump from launching additional hostilities against Venezuela without congressional approval.
How Congress Blew All Their Chances to Stop Trump’s War With Venezuela
Since the Trump administration began striking alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean in September, there have been four failed votes on resolutions seeking to stop unauthorized attacks on either the boats strikes or Venezuelan soil. They all fell short.
Lawmakers are now preparing for another vote this week on a resolution in the Senate, their latest opportunity to pump the brakes.
Vice President Delcy Rodríguez demands proof of life for President Maduro after US attack
Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez demanded proof of life from the US government for President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Deputy Cilia Flores, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
In a phone call to the state channel VTV, Rodríguez demanded an “immediate proof of life” from the US government and stressed that Maduro had warned about the US aggression motivated by the US‘s energy voracity.
Venezuela president Maduro captured and flown out of country after US strikes, says Trump
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been captured and flown out of Venezuela after the US carried out a large scale strike on the capital city of Caracas, US President Donald Trump announced. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a GOP senator that Maduro will stand trial in the US.
Trump Says U.S. Forces Have Captured Venezuela’s Maduro
The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro early Saturday morning after a series of strikes on the South American country, U.S. President Donald Trump announced in a social media post.
Trump said on Truth Social that Maduro and his wife had been “captured and flown out of the Country” after a “large scale strike” that was executed in “conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.
House Rejects McGovern’s Bipartisan War Powers Resolution, Shamefully Surrendering More Power to the White House
WASHINGTON—Today, House Republicans (and sadly, one spineless Democrat) shamefully rejected Congressman McGovern‘s War Powers Resolution, which would have directed President Trump to cease all hostilities within or against Venezuela.
“I’m furious that cowardly lawmakers have once again surrendered Congress’ Constitutional responsibility on matters of war to a wannabe dictator in the White House,” said Ranking Member McGovern. “The Founders intentionally did not want any president to have unilateral power to start a war, much less one like Donald Trump, who campaigned on ending unnecessary foreign conflicts. He‘s now breaking that promise—and his weak, pathetic lackeys in Congress are letting him drag us into yet another endless war that no one except their billionaire buddies in Big Oil want.”
House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Meeks‘ Floor Debate Remarks on War Powers Resolution to Prohibit Hostilities Against Venezuela
„As I said earlier today on this floor, during the debate on my War Powers Resolution to end this administration’s extrajudicial strikes on boats in the Western Hemisphere, those bombings are not about drugs. If the administration did want to stop drugs, Trump would not have pardoned the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, or Ross Ulbricht, who operated the Silk Road drug marketplace. He wouldn’t be seizing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Or threatening CIA operations, blockades, and ground strikes on Venezuela.
„It’s not about drugs, it’s about regime change, and it’s about oil. That’s not just me saying that. It’s Trump himself saying it. It’s President Trump’s Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, who said Trump wants to, and I quote, “keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.” And it relies on the magical thinking that military force can bring democracy in Venezuela or anywhere else.
„But his chief of staff also conceded, as any reasonable person with any knowledge of the constitution should, that if Trump, quote, “were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress.”
„On that, she’s right. Congress would need to pass an Authorization for the Use of Military Force if Trump wanted to put boots on the ground or conduct military strikes on Venezuela. And for that, Republicans in Congress would need to cast their vote on whether to commit U.S. armed forces to an open-ended conflict their constituents certainly do not want.
„Trump ran on ending forever wars, but now he’s forgotten what they are. What his own Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth characterized as, quote, “interventionism, undefined wars, regime change, and feckless nation building.” Yet with Venezuela, Trump is provoking a new war right in our backyard and threatening to destabilize an entire region.
Congress Squanders Last Chance to Block Venezuela War Before Going on Vacation
“Americans do not want another Iraq. If we intensify hostilities in Venezuela, we have no idea what we’re walking into,” McGovern said. “At least George Bush had the decency to come to Congress for approval in 2002. Don’t the American people deserve that respect today?”
Bush in 2002 sought and received a formal authorization for his attack on Iraq. Without taking any similar steps, Trump has massed thousands of American service members in the Caribbean without formal approval.
‘Absolute Dereliction of Duty’: House Republicans Kill Venezuela War Powers Resolutions
The resolution was defeated 210-216, with seven lawmakers not voting. Two Republicans—Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Thomas Massie of Kentucky—voted in favor of the measure. Democratic Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez joined their GOP colleagues in voting down the proposal.
The second resolution, introduced by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), would have directed Trump to “remove the use of United States armed forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization for use of military force.”
The resolution failed by a vote of 211-213, with nine members not voting. Republicans Bacon, Massie, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia voted “yes” on the legislation, while Cuellar voted against the proposal.
Trump declares ‚Venezuelan regime‘ a foreign terrorist organization, orders oil tanker blockade
President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a total blockade of oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, declaring the Nicolás Maduro regime a foreign terrorist organization and accusing it of using stolen U.S. assets to finance terrorism, trafficking and other criminal activity.
„Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,“ Trump said on Truth Social. „It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before – Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.
House To Vote This Week on Bill To Block Trump From Launching a War With Venezuela
(December 15, 2025)
The House is expected to vote on Thursday on a bipartisan War Powers Resolution aimed at blocking President Trump from launching an attack on Venezuela amid a major US military buildup in the Caribbean and threats of a regime change war to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Opinion: Rand Paul demands vote on war in Venezuela: ‚I‘m old-fashioned‘
“I’m reminded of what my mother would tell me when I was a kid, ‘Ten wrongs don’t make a right,’ so the fact that 10 presidents have done it doesn’t make it right. Our Founding Fathers were united to a person — all those who signed, all those who debated over the Constitution, the Federalist Papers — were unanimous that Congress should declare war, no president should on his own. Now we have disobeyed that, but we do have the ability, if Congress rose up in a clear two-thirds majority and said ‘no,’ we could overturn any veto.”
Lawmakers react to US seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker
Last week, Paul and Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), Adam Schiff (Ca.) and Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) filed a war powers resolution to prevent the administration from engaging Venezuela in conflict without congressional approval.
The Kentucky Republican reiterated he and his colleagues’ push on Wednesday, saying that “if you want war, the president should come to Congress, like the Constitution dictates, and he should ask Congress for a declaration of war.
“That’s what should be going on right now.”
Venezuelan boat strikes lack legal justification, Democrats say
There is no U.S. law that explicitly authorizes the U.S. Navy to attack or sink ships at sea outside of a congressionally authorized war or valid self-defense situation, legal experts and Democratic lawmakers say.
The strikes began in September, but Trump administration discussions about them began soon after Trump moved back into the White House in January
Trump says land strikes in Venezuela will ‚start very soon‘
Amid a buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela and strikes on alleged drug boats, President Donald Trump told U.S. troops on Thanksgiving that the military operation will soon include strikes on land.
“In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers,“ Trump said during a call with military service members that alluded to the boat strikes, adding: „We’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon.“
Trump says airspace above and around Venezuela should be considered closed
Venezuela‘s communications ministry, which handles all press inquiries for the government, did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Trump‘s post.
The U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vice President: Venezuela must be prepared to defend its sovereignty
During the formation of the Bolivarian Base Committee in the Caracas parish of La Pastora, he declared that „those who want to hand over Venezuela, its natural resources, and fascist extremism are encountering the unyielding fist of the organized people. They will not succeed against us.“
Rodríguez emphasized that the US has decided to declare war on the entire planet, „and Venezuela must be prepared to defend our sovereignty. Who is going to come and give us orders from another country? Nobody, nobody gives us orders. The only one is the Venezuelan people, who are well organized.“
Venezuela raises military readiness as U.S. Carrier Group nears Caribbean
As the USS Gerald R. Ford streams into the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of responsibility, bringing with it 4000 US sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro ordered its military operations be amped up within the coming hours to confront “imperial threats.”
A release from Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez earlier today announced that a higher phase of “Independencia 200” operations- the country’s national defence and mobilisation framework- will be in effect from 4.p.m. until tomorrow.
Military devise ‚war‘ plans after call-out – Troops stand down
MILITARY COMMANDERS have devised three specific courses of action to be taken in the event of any land strikes involving US forces and neighbouring Venezuela.
This follows a mandatory call-out of thousands of active soldiers, sailors and other personnel on October 31 to report for duty by 6 pm and a subsequent lockdown of all military installations.
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The combination of a motion to extend the state of emergency for three months being debated in Parliament, media reports of an imminent strike to Venezuela, sparked a wave of anxiety in some parts of the country with some schools ending earlier and private businesses shutting their doors.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar later called for calm, vowing to keep the public informed of any major developments.
Patriotic Front: Citizens want informed leaders
On October 31, Persad-Bissessar said she was unaware of reports that TT Defence Force (TTDF) personnel had been ordered to immediately return to base. She added she would find out and repeated her statement for people to remain calm in the face of reports which claimed US military strikes against targets in Venezuela were imminent.
Panday said, „The concern is that the head of the NSC should at least be aware of why the Defence Force was placed on high alert.“
She added if Persad-Bissessar genuinely did not know, „that raises serious questions about communication and coordination at the highest level of government, especially in a time of regional tension.“