President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that he has designated the Venezuelan “regime” led by President Nicolas Maduro as a foreign terrorist organization and ordered a “total and complete blockage of all sanctioned oil tankers” going into and out of the South American country.
On social media, Trump continued to threaten Venezuela with “the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America” and vowed to take “all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
It is international law 101 that a military blockade is not just a violation of the UN Charter, but a crime of aggression.
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) December 17, 2025
Unless that blockade is in response to an 'armed attack.'
None of President's Trump's list of complaints come close to an armed attack.
1/ pic.twitter.com/o92K4SdGJc
American legal scholar and former Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense Ryan Goodman replied to Trump’s post: “It is international law 101 that a military blockade is not just a violation of the UN Charter, but a crime of aggression. Unless that blockade is in response to an ‘armed attack.’ None of President’s Trump’s list of complaints come close to an armed attack.”
Goodman added, quoting the UN General Assembly resolution: “Any of the following acts, regardless of a declaration of war, shall … qualify as an act of aggression: … The blockade of the ports or coasts of a State by the armed forces of another State” – Definition of Aggression, United Nations General Assembly Res. 3314 (XXIX).”
2/2 "Any of the following acts, regardless of a declaration of war, shall … qualify as an act of aggression:
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) December 17, 2025
…
The blockade of the ports or coasts of a State by the armed forces of another State"
– Definition of Aggression, United Nations General Assembly Res. 3314 (XXIX) pic.twitter.com/W6lLKuuH6a
MAGA-aligned U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), also a lawyer, voiced his support for Trump and claimed Maduro “associates with terrorist regimes like Hezbollah, poisons America through the drug trade, and his demise is long overdue. If he’s not a terrorist, I don’t know who would be.” Graham added: “Finish him off.”
Retired U.S. Navy officer Phil Ehr, who is running for Congress against Republican Florida incumbent U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, replied to Graham citing U.S. law rather than U.N. resolutions.
“The Constitution is explicit. Article I: Congress declares war and authorizes hostilities,” Ehr wrote. “Article II: The President executes.”
The Constitution is explicit.
— Phil Ehr (@PhilEhr) December 17, 2025
Article I: Congress declares war and authorizes hostilities.
Article II: The President executes
A sustained naval blockade
– especially one framed as punishment, asset seizure, or regime coercion – cannot be done unilaterally without violating…
Ehr continued: “A sustained naval blockade – especially one framed as punishment, asset seizure, or regime coercion – cannot be done unilaterally without violating the separation of powers. Calling another country a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ doesn’t magically grant war powers over a sovereign nation. Congress: if you support this, do your job. Pass a military authorization. Own the vote.”
Ehr also replied to Gimenez, saying “you’re either on the side of the law, or you’re not.”
It’s very simple: you’re either on the side of the law, or you’re not. If you’re in the side of the people & law, sponsor an AUMF resolution, vote on it, and stand by it. See, simple. https://t.co/sOcH5z9tjC
— Phil Ehr (@PhilEhr) December 17, 2025
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