The US has escalated tensions with Venezuela and seized a tanker off its coast, described by Donald Trump as the largest ever seized.  

He's otherwise keeping tight lipped, saying it was done for 'a very good reason'.  

CNN reports it intensifies Trump's pressure campaign aimed at forcing the leader Nicolas Maduro out of power. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Heather du Plessis-Allan that while US officials are saying the seizure does not signal a broad scale war, Trump doesn’t want to rule an American ground invasion in or out. 

He says the US has now carried out 22 attacks on Venezuelan drug boats, Trump saying that every drug boat leads to the deaths of some 25,000 Americans, but it’s unknown where he pulled that figure from. 

LISTEN ABOVE