The U.S. Struck a Deal To Control Venezuela’s Oil. Trump Says It Will Be Used To Replenish The SPR.

President Donald Trump said the deal struck with Venezuela will allow the U.S. to replenish its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has been largely depleted as a result of the war in Iran.

In a social media post, Trump said that the "'topping out' process will begin very shortly, and is a Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States."

Venezuela's interim government, which has had a cozy relationship with the Trump administration since the operation where authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro was caught in January, would benefit from the pouring of resources to increase productivity.

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez was Maduro's vice president, but changed the government's tone completely after the operation. President Donald Trump privately began discussing ways to implement such a plan even before the January operation, accoridng to an Axios report from last week.

Rodriguez has defended the deal, saying the country will keep ownership and sovereignty over the reserves. "The benefits are endless," she said during the weekend.

"As everyone knows, our country has the biggest oil reserves in the world. But having resources underground isn't enough. We need investment, technology, infrastructure [and] production capacity to convert this wealth into wellbeing for our people," she added in a televised address.

"It's no use having our oil reserves underground, only to appear in statistics or bookkeeping ... and for us not to be able to convert and translate them into development for Venezuela."

The deal comes at a time when the oil industry is under pressure as a result of the war in Iran and Russia-Ukraine. The U.S. has felt the pressure, with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) falling to its lowest level in more than 40 years.

Data from the Department of Energy released earlier this month showed that the SPR stood below 300 million barrels last week, the lowest since January 1983.

It was at about 415 million barrels before the war with Iran bean in late February and has a maximum authorized capacity of 714 million barrels.

The Trump administration had ordered the release of 172 million barrels in March as the war continued and the Strait of Hormuz remained closed.

Traffic through the waterway is not expected to fully reopen any time soon as Washington and Tehran's positions remain far apart.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. will further escalate economic pressure against Iran this week.

Speaking to The Associated Press, Bessent said the Trump administration plans to sanction another bank with ties to Tehran.

"This is going to be financial violence if we have to," he said. "We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop."

Hostilities flared up again during the weekend after U.S. forces said they targeted two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, claiming Iranian forces were getting ready to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran, in turn, launched missiles at U.S. bases in Jordan, local media claimed. Forces said they "destroyed the technical and repair infrastructure, as well as the enemy fighter deployment sites."