The United States Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2019.

President Trump and members of his cabinet at a meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday.

President Trump and members of his cabinet at the meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday.

Damage to an apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, after a strike on Friday.

A photograph released by Iranian state media showing shops in Tehran on Dec. 30 that were closed after protests.

“We do not have U.S. armed forces in Venezuela, and we are not occupying that country,” Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday.

Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the leader of the Southern Transitional Council, in 2023 at a Yemeni community event in Queens, N.Y.

In Caracas, Venezuela, on Monday.

A U.S. military helicopter flying over the Panama-flagged Centuries, which was intercepted in the Caribbean Sea. American officials have suggested that they intend to seize another ship, Bella 1, which they are currently tracking.

President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela at a rally in Caracas, the capital, earlier this month.

The strike, conducted at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, had targeted a boat sailing along a “known narco-trafficking route” in the eastern Pacific.

Peter Arnett covered conflicts for decades, first for The Associated Press and then for CNN.

An oil tanker anchored near the Cardón Refinery in Punto Fijo, Venezuela, in 2021.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth briefed senators on Tuesday.

Derricks in the Maracaibo oil fields of Venezuela in the early 20th century. American oil companies invested millions of dollars in the region, generating profits that flowed to the United States, rather than Venezuela.

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa at the opening plenary session of the G20 summit on Saturday.