US President Donald Trump has warned Venezuela that its planes will be shot down if they threaten US military forces, after Washington earlier reported that two Venezuelan military planes flew dangerously low over a US Navy ship, BTA reported.
At the same time, the Republican said that he does not want regime change in Caracas, the agencies reported.
"If they threaten us in any way, they will be shot down", Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in response to a question about what follow-up actions would be taken after the announcement of the incident.
Yesterday, the Pentagon reported that two Venezuelan planes had flown over a US Navy ship in international waters, and described this as provocation. The ministry warned Caracas to refrain from further escalating tensions.
In his remarks, Trump denied Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's claim earlier this week that the US wanted regime change in Caracas.
"We're not talking about that, we're talking about the fact that there were elections that were, to put it mildly, quite strange", the Republican said, when asked by journalists whether Washington was seeking "regime change through military threats".
At a press conference on Monday, Maduro said there was a danger of an American landing in Venezuela and an attempt at regime change. But the United States has never publicly threatened to invade the South American country, Agence France-Presse notes.
In recent weeks, tensions between Washington and Caracas have risen again after the United States deployed warships near the coast of Venezuela to combat drug trafficking.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that the US Navy had struck a vessel that had left Venezuela carrying a large amount of drugs.
Washington accuses Maduro of running a drug trafficking network and recently announced a $50 million reward for his arrest.