Last week, President Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets seized from U.S. oil companies, justifying his announced “blockade” against sanctioned oil tankers traveling to or from Venezuela by citing lost U.S. investments and accusations of drug trafficking.

Trump's administration has seized an oil tanker, conducted strikes on suspected drug boats killing at least 99 people, and is considering land-based strikes, while Venezuela has called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to address what it terms U.S. aggression.

While the strikes on alleged drug boats have raised questions about the use of military force, Trump’s seizure of the tanker and other actions against sanctioned entities are consistent with past American policy, Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, tells the Associated Press. 

Murrett also notes that from a military standpoint, seizing sanctioned oil tankers and imposing a blockade are far less risky than direct military confrontation.

On the CBS News segment “Behind Trump's order to blockade sanctioned Venezuela oil tankers,” Murrett says, “It was originally pitched by the White House as a complete blockade but the major caveat in the announcement by the president is that it would just involve all sanctioned vessels, which is only a subset of the tanker ships that are going in and out of Venezuela. So I think the details are important and we'll probably learn a lot more about that in the hours and days ahead.