Donald Trump warns US will attack Venezuela 'very soon' as war on cartels could move to land

American troops have conducted at least 21 deadly strikes on boats it alleges were trafficking drugs to the US in recent months.

Venezuela has condemned the attacks, which have killed more than 80 people.

The US is hoping to break down the cartels' hierarchy, which officials say is headed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and run by members of his regime, a claim Mr Maduro denies.

"You probably noticed that people aren't wanting to be delivering by sea, and we'll be starting to stop them by land also," Mr Trump told military service members in a call.

He added: "The land is easier, but that's going to start very soon.

"We warned them to stop sending poison to our country."

The US government warned earlier this month it could order strikes on military targets inside Venezuela at any moment.

The administration is understood to be planning air strikes on naval and air bases inside the country.

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"Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to.

"What’s worse for him, there is now more than one general willing to capture and hand him over, fully aware that one thing is to talk about death, and another to see it coming," a source told the Maimi Herald.

The US has already deployed its most advanced air carrier to the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, along with other military vessels as part of its so-called Operation Southern Spear.

Mr Trump's defence chief Pete Hegseth has also regularly released videos of boats being targeted, but without providing evidence they have been transporting drugs.

Earlier this month, Venezuela said it had captured a group of mercenaries with alleged ties to the CIA, accusing them of plotting a “false flag operation” designed to trigger a military confrontation with the United States.

In a statement issued by Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez, Nicolás Maduro’s government said the alleged group was operating in waters near Trinidad and Tobago with the goal of “generating a full-scale military confrontation” against Venezuela.

No further details have been provided, and the identities of those detained have not been made public.

However, the statement claimed the men were acting “with direct information of the American intelligence agency.”

The claims come as the United States increases its military presence in the Caribbean, with around 10,000 troops, a contingent of marines, and at least ten warships now in the region.

Maduro has accused the US of "inventing a new eternal war" after it deployed the world's largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean Sea.

He made the remarks on state media after it emerged America’s feared USS Gerald R. Ford was making its way to the region following a series of fatal strikes on South American drug boats.

The US has launched at least 10 strikes on vessels allegedly belonging to Venezuelan and Colombian cartels since September.

It comes after Donald Trump declared the US was in an "armed conflict" with cartels.

This is the same legal rationale the US previously used to target terrorist organisations, including al-Qaeda and ISIS.