Overview
- New York Times reported the White House weighed three options including airstrikes and a special-operations mission to capture or kill Nicolás Maduro, which U.S. envoy Richard Grenell publicly dismissed as error-filled opinion rather than reporting.
- The Wall Street Journal reported President Donald Trump recently questioned whether strikes would dislodge Maduro and pressed advisers on objectives while accepting a measured buildup and continued boat interdiction strikes near Venezuela.
- Maduro approved ruling party proposals to prepare for armed resistance and directed neighborhood-level operational plans for a constitutional defense response to any U.S. attack.
- Russia said a proposed UN Security Council chairman’s statement urging restraint was blocked by one member, Bloomberg reported several EU leaders will skip the EU–CELAC summit partly to avoid angering Trump, and the Pope urged dialogue over violence.
- Trump said the United States does not seek war and floated a possible U.S.–Russia–China disarmament plan, as an American arms‑control group warned that resuming U.S. nuclear tests would likely spur a wider arms race.