Rubio says Trump will retain 'optionality' after US strikes on Venezuela

U.S. President Donald Trump will keep all options around on how to "run" Venezuela, and will not rule out the U.S. military presence in the country, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday.

"First of all, the president always retains optionality on anything and on all these matters," Rubio said on CBS in an interview, adding that the U.S. side will assess if Venezuela's interim leadership can "make right decisions."

Trump said Saturday the United States will "run" the oil-rich South American nation until a transition that must meet U.S. demands, after the U.S. military took by force Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is now in custody in New York.

Venezuela transition

Rubio said the United States will judge Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodríguez on what she does moving forward as acting president.

Late Saturday, Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice ordered Maduro's vice president Rodríguez to immediately assume the role of acting president in the absence of Maduro.

"We expect to see more compliance and cooperation than we were previously receiving," said Rubio.

"We're going to make assessment ... if they don't make the right decisions, the United States will retain multiple levers of leverage to ensure that our interests are protected, and that includes the oil quarantine that's in place, among other things," said Rubio.

The top U.S. diplomat said, "Our objectives when it comes to how Venezuela impacts the national interest of the United States have not changed, and we want those addressed. We want drug trafficking to stop. We want no more gang members to come our way."

Rubio did not provide a timeline for Venezuela's transition. Instead, he stressed that the expectation of a quick turnaround election in the country is "absurd" given that Venezuela has had "this system of Chavismo in place for 15 or 16 years."

Following the U.S. raid, Rodríguez on Saturday demanded that the United States release Maduro and his wife, noting that Venezuela's territorial integrity was "savagely attacked" as the U.S. rocked Caracas and other parts of the country.

US military move

Trump said on Saturday that the U.S. is "not afraid of boots on the ground" in Venezuela.

"We don't have U.S. forces on the ground," Rubio said, refusing to rule out the U.S. military presence in Venezuela in the future.

"He (Trump) does not feel like he is going to publicly rule out options that are available for the United States, even though (troops on the ground is) not what you're seeing right now," Rubio said.

"What you're seeing right now is an oil quarantine that allows us to exert tremendous leverage over what happens next," he said.

When asked whether he envisions U.S. boots on the ground while the U.S. essentially runs the Venezuelan government in an interim period, Trump said: "Well, no, we're going to have a presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil."

The U.S. president used the word "oil" more than 20 times at the Saturday press conference hours after the raid on Venezuela.

Rubio also said on NBC News that the Trump administration will continue striking alleged drug boats and seizing oil tankers linked to Venezuela.

"We will continue to target drug boats if they try to run towards the United States," Rubio said on NBC News, "We will continue to seize the boats that are sanctioned with court orders."

"We will continue to do that, and potentially other things, until the things we need to see addressed are addressed," he went ahead.

For months, the United States has deployed large-scale air and naval forces in Caribbean waters near Venezuela as part of its so-called campaign against narco-terrorism. The Pentagon has sunk more than 30 alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific since September, claiming about 110 lives.

At least 40 people were reportedly killed in U.S. airstrikes on the South American nation in the early hours of Saturday as U.S. forces carried out an operation to take by force Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, who were flown out of their country by the U.S. military and are now in custody in New York.

The international community is deeply shocked by the Trump administration's raid on Venezuela and Maduro. Many countries have issued statements strongly condemning the blatant use of force against a sovereign state and action against its president.