WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump told NBC News that war remains possible with Venezuela, a country whose leadership he labeled a terrorist regime and which he has targeted militarily because of alleged drug smuggling. "I don’t rule it out, no," Trump told NBC on Dec. 18 in a phone interview.

Chevron, the lone U.S. company in the South American country, has weathered years of political and economic instability in Venezuela, but the latest U.S. pressure campaign could become its toughest test yet.

In an exclusive phone interview with NBC News, Trump talked about his offensive against Venezuela, his plan for health care and his outlook for the midterm elections.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was leaving the possibility of war with Venezuela on the table, according to an interview with NBC News published on Friday.

The president has shied away from endorsing regime change, leaving some aides unsure about his ultimate goal.

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Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has said that President Donald Trump's threats against his nation are "simply a warmongering and colonialist pretense." Speaking in Caracas on Wednesday, he said that Trump's aim was regime change to impose a "puppet government that wouldn't last 47 hours,

The president said in a Truth Social post Venezuela should return those assets to the U.S. and declared an oil tanker blockade.