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US attack against Venezuela left 100 dead, Venezuela's interior ministry says.
US military says it seizes oil tanker linked with Russia, Venezuela in North Atlantic.
CARACAS -- The US attack against Venezuela has left 100 dead, Venezuela's interior ministry said Wednesday.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, both suffered injuries during the raid, said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
BOGOTA -- Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday afternoon spoke with US President Donald Trump on the phone, said the local media, citing sources from the Colombian Foreign Ministry.
Trump has recently made multiple threats against Petro.
NEW YORK - US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that the United States will not only market stored oil in Venezuela but also control the sales of oil output from the country indefinitely.
At an industry conference in Miami, Florida, Wright said: "We're going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed up, stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace," according to media reports.
The sales will be "done by the US government and deposited into accounts controlled by the US government," Wright said.
Wright added that the proceeds from oil then can flow back into Venezuela to benefit local people while the United States needs to have the leverage and control of oil sales to drive changes that must happen in Venezuela.
The Trump administration is in "active dialogue" with Venezuela's leaders, as well as US oil companies, according to Wright.
Venezuelan authorities "will be turning over" between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States, said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
The United States has been widely bashed and protested following the large-scale military strike on Venezuela, which many view as an unlawful action primarily driven by a desire to control the South American country's vast oil reserves.
CARACAS -- A demonstration was held in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Wednesday, calling for the defense of national sovereignty and demanding that the US government release Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
Nahum Fernandez, head of the government of Caracas, called for unity to confront the anti-government campaigns promoted by the national and international opposition.
"There is no doubt here, what we must have here is revolutionary unity, what we must have here is the mobilization of a united people," he said.
Participants marched from Ali Primera Park in the west of the capital to Plaza O'Leary in the downtown area.
Angel Prado, Venezuelan minister of communes, social movements and urban agriculture, said: "We want to tell the world that in Venezuela, the power of the people rules. In Venezuela, Maduro rules ... and if Chavismo doesn't rule here, nobody rules here."
Prado expressed his support for the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, saying that she was carrying out Maduro's instruction "not to let the government fall."
Jorge Arreaza, rector of the National University of Communes, said Venezuelans were ready and organized thanks to the policies implemented by the head of state.
"President Maduro prepared us for this," he said, calling on protesters to have faith in their leaders and to ignore rumors and misinformation.
The acting president faces "a tough dialogue process" amid further threats of military attacks by the United States, he said.
Since the US military operation of kidnapping Maduro and his wife, killing dozens and damaging telecommunications, health, residential infrastructure, Venezuelans have been demonstrating in support of Maduro.
UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed the availability of his good offices to support a possible inclusive national dialogue in Venezuela, his spokesperson said.
Speaking to reporters at a daily briefing, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the UN chief had just concluded a meeting with Venezuelan UN ambassador Samuel Moncada, which lasted about 45 minutes.
"During the meeting, the secretary-general reiterated his publicly-stated position on the US military action in Venezuela," said Dujarric.
In remarks to the UN Security Council on Monday, delivered on his behalf by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, Guterres said he was "deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted."
"I remain deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected with regard to the Jan 3 military action," said the UN chief, who also called on all Venezuelan actors to engage in an inclusive, democratic dialogue in which all sectors of society can determine their future.
In the early hours of Jan 3, US military forces carried out a series of strikes on Venezuela, taking by force Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, before putting them in custody in New York, which sparked widespread condemnation.
Trump confirms considering using US military to take control of Greenland on 'national security concerns'
US conducting operation to seize Venezuela-linked oil tanker in Atlantic: US media
Anti-war campaigners gathered outside 10 Downing Street, the working home of the UK’s prime minister, in London on Monday to protest against US military action against Venezuela. Organizers said around 2,000 people took part.
The protesters warned that the intervention set a dangerous precedent. “If we don’t stop, this can happen in any part of the world, and no one is safe from this criminal act,” said Belgica Guana Cole, an Ecuadorian protester.
Reporter: Zheng Wanyin
Wang Jingli and Gao Kejing contributed to the story.
BEIJING - Venezuela is a sovereign state that possesses full and permanent sovereignty over its natural resources and all economic activities within its territory, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
The legitimate rights and interests of other countries in Venezuela, including those of China, must be protected, Mao stressed.
The spokeswoman said China strongly condemns the United States' military operation against Venezuela and the US demand of "America First" when it comes to Venezuela's dealing with its own oil resources.
The US move, a typical act of bullying, seriously violates international law, infringes upon Venezuela's sovereignty, and undermines the rights of the Venezuelan people, she said at a regular news briefing.
CARACAS - Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, on Tuesday appointed Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez as the new commander of the Presidential Honor Guard and director of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, replacing Javier Marcano Tabata.
Anti-war campaigners rallied outside 10 Downing Street, the working home of the British prime minister, in London on Monday to protest US military action against Venezuela.
Participating groups and trade unions said around 2,000 people took part in the demonstration. Similar gatherings were also seen across the United Kingdom on Monday evening in Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Protesters, carrying Venezuelan, Cuban and Palestinian flags, chanted slogans, including "Hands off Venezuela", "No more kills, no more wars — Venezuela isn't yours", and "No blood for oil".
Placards reading "Special relationship? Just say no" were also seen among the demonstrators as they were upset with the United Kingdom's stance of not condemning the US military action. The term "special relationship" has frequently been used to describe the exceptionally close ties between the United States and the UK.
Elizabeth, a Venezuelan who has lived in the UK for years and whose family is now trapped in Venezuela because of the US strikes, called Washington's actions "imperialism", saying its intention is "purely" to "grab resources".
For so long, the US has treated Latin America as its playground, said Elizabeth, who refused to give her last name.
"The only thing different now is that (US President Donald) Trump is by far more open about it. The treatment that we have been receiving is very much like the word 'backyard'. There is no dignity. You feel humiliated. You feel degraded."
Jim Curran, a protester and chairman of the Irish Civil Rights Association, said the US has a long record of practicing the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine — a US foreign policy named after former president James Monroe that viewed Latin America as Washington's exclusive sphere of influence and justified US hegemony.
From invading territories to forcing regime changes in South America, Curran said the Monroe Doctrine is ultimately an "imperialist doctrine" as the US only seeks to dominate states with limited capacity to defend themselves.
"They would not attack bigger nations like Russia, China, India or maybe even Brazil. They are attacking the smaller nations," he said.
Elizabeth echoed the concern, saying the US had already set a precedent with the Gaza Strip.
"No one stopped (the US) a year ago, a year and a half ago, two years ago, when they started the horrendous things in Gaza, in Palestine. Who is going to stop them now?" she said.
"Why (did the strikes against Venezuela happen) now? Because now they are even more confident that no one is able to stop them."
'Disgusting silence'
The reactions from European politicians amount to "disgusting silence", Elizabeth added. "Well, you want to keep the hope, but it is difficult."
European leaders have reacted with references to international law and the United Nations Charter, while some statements stopped short of direct confrontation, which critics viewed as deference.
Belgica Guana Cole, an Ecuadorian protester, said she was concerned about what the future holds for the international community if such acts are not stopped.
"The world needs to stop this criminal offense against humanity. If we don't stop, this can happen in any part of the world. No one is safe from this criminal act."
Wang Jingli and Gao Kejing contributed to this story.
Editor's note: From the snatching of Venezuela's president to renewed talk of annexing Greenland, Washington's recent actions have sent shock waves far beyond the Americas. China Daily traces the widening global backlash as critics warn of eroding international law, revival of power politics and a world edging toward rule by force rather than restraint.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared on Monday at a hearing in federal court in New York for the first time since they were forcibly taken from their residence by US military in the middle of the night on Saturday.
"I was captured," Maduro said in Spanish as translated by a courtroom interpreter before being cut off by the judge. Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated: "I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country."
The United States carried out what President Donald Trump described as a "large-scale strike", abducting the presidential couple and flying them out of the country. They were subsequently confirmed to have been transported to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
"I am here kidnapped since Jan 3, Saturday," Maduro said, standing and leaning his tall frame toward a tabletop microphone. "I was captured at my home in Caracas."
Flores likewise pleaded not guilty. The judge ordered both to remain behind bars and set a new hearing date of March 17.
Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said he expects to contest the legality of his "military abduction".
Large crowds of protesters gathered outside the courthouse, many voicing opposition to the US action against Venezuela. Protest signs read "USA hands off Venezuela", "No US war on Venezuela", and "US hands off Venezuela oil".
Rae Lee, who had been outside the courthouse since 9 am, three hours before Maduro's arraignment, told China Daily that she believes the action constituted an international crime.
Lee said she visited Venezuela last month, describing the country as "really remarkable".
"Here in the US, they are only ever talking about terrible conditions like people are oppressed by their government … (But) they've been building their resilience through the years, and economically they have grown really powerfully, like their housing projects," she said.
"It (the US) desperately wants its oil and its natural resources, so they want to install a puppet regime …These charges, they are just seeing what sticks.
"Fundamentally, (it was) the US going to a sovereign nation and kidnapping their head of state, who has been elected twice democratically, their election much more transparent, accurate and representative than ours."
She denounced the US action as "an international crime", saying, "We have to condemn it."
Driven by 'oil'
Many protesters said they believe the US intervention in Venezuela is driven not by "justice" but by "oil". Among them was Imani Henry, who said he has been to Venezuela and "experienced firsthand the rally there that supports Maduro".
"It's about oil. (As with) Iran, Afghanistan, it's about oil … Steal a sovereign president and declare to run their country, and declare that we are gonna steal oil reserves. It's about people and people's needs, not about stealing the reserves for your own profit," Henry said.
"We have seen this kind of complete and utter disruption of people's sovereignty. Why am I here today? Because I'm tired of Latin America and the Caribbean being completely usurped of our power, our independence by the US government."
Lallan Schoenstein, a protester, said, "Maduro has been a legitimate president of Venezuela elected by the Venezuelan people."
Trump's "all interest" in Venezuela is "stealing the resources, precious metals and oil", he said. "He is stealing a president of a sovereign nation. It is a criminal activity."
Agencies contributed to this story.
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Venezuelan authorities "will be turning over" 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States.
The oil will be sold at market price and the proceeds will be controlled by Trump himself as the US president, Trump said in a post on Truth Social, claiming that the arrangement is intended to ensure the money "is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States".
The United States is facing widespread condemnation, even from its allies, for its military operation against Venezuela and the abduction of its president, Nicolas Maduro.
At a United Nations Security Council emergency meeting held on Monday, countries criticized the US' unilateral action, saying it violated the UN Charter and international laws, undermining multilateralism.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced deep concern over the lack of respect for international law in the US military action against Venezuela on Saturday.
He was also worried about further destabilization in Venezuela, the potential impact on the region and the precedent that the US move may set on how relations between and among states are conducted.
Sophia Tesfamariam Yohannes, permanent representative of Eritrea to the UN, said acts of the US "constitute a clear breach of international law and of each and every principle governing international relations".
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's UN ambassador, said the US military move against Venezuela "constitutes state terrorism, a manifest violation of the UN Charter and peremptory norms of international law, and amounts to an internationally wrongful act and a full-fledged act of aggression".
Venezuela's UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada requested action from the Security Council, urging it to fully assume its responsibility and act in accordance with the mandate conferred on it by the UN Charter.
"Venezuela comes before this Council today with a deep conviction that international peace can only be sustained if international law is respected without exception, without double standards, and without selective interpretations," he said.
In Japan, the US operation has met with criticism from political figures and the media, who warned that it undermines international law and the postwar rules-based order.
Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, said the operation raised "serious doubts" about whether it could be justified under international law.
The Nikkei newspaper commented that the action may have disregarded three core pillars of legal order — respect for national sovereignty, the role of the US Congress, and the postwar rules-based system.
Hadi Rahmat Purnama, an assistant professor of international law at Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta, said: "Applying national jurisdiction against other (sovereign) countries… should not be done by any country. It can be considered an act of war."
Washington's stated position of not recognizing the Maduro government "should not be a reason for the US to abduct Maduro and his wife", he said.
Agencies contributed to this story.
Contact the writers at houjunjie@chinadaily.com.cn
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Monday at UN Headquarters in New York to discuss the situation in Venezuela. Representatives from many countries opposed the US' interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
The United Nations Security Council's first meeting of 2026 heard a global chorus of UN member states strongly denounce the United States' strike in Venezuela as a grave violation of the UN Charter, although a US representative defended it as a "surgical law enforcement operation".
At Monday's emergency session, Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, urged Washington to heed the international community's "overwhelming voice", comply with international law and the UN Charter, halt actions that infringe on other countries' sovereignty and security, stop toppling Venezuela's government, and return to dialogue and negotiations as the path to a political solution.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, seized and brought to the US on Saturday after a large-scale US strike in the South American nation, pleaded not guilty in federal court in New York on Monday to charges of narco-terrorism. Crowds of protesters gathered outside the courthouse, many voicing opposition to the US action against Venezuela.
Sun expressed China's "deep shock" and strong condemnation of what he described as the "unilateral, illegal and bullying acts" of the US, and he called for Washington to ensure the safety of Maduro and his wife, and to release them immediately.
"The US has placed its own power above multilateralism and military actions above diplomatic efforts,"Sun said, warning that such actions pose a grave threat to peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean and even internationally.
He said the US military strikes "wantonly trampled" on Venezuela's sovereignty and violated core tenets of the UN Charter, including the principles of sovereign equality, noninterference in internal affairs, peaceful settlement of international disputes, and prohibition of the use of force in international relations.
"The lessons of history are a stark warning," Sun said, adding that military means are not the solution to international problems, and the indiscriminate use of force will only lead to greater crises.
He cited past US actions, such as bypassing the Security Council to launch military operations against Iraq, attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, and the imposition of economic sanctions, military strikes and armed occupations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Those actions caused persistent conflict, instability and immense suffering for ordinary people, he said.
The envoy reiterated that China firmly supports the Venezuelan government and people in safeguarding their sovereignty, security and legitimate rights and interests, and supports countries in the region in upholding Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace.
He called on the US to change course, cease bullying and coercive practices, and develop relations and cooperation with countries in the region on the basis of mutual respect, equality and noninterference in internal affairs.
Addressing the UN meeting, US economist Jeffrey Sachs said that the US military action and ongoing pressure violate Article 2, Section 4 of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, called these actions part of a long-standing US pattern of "covert regime change", citing a historical record of 70 such operations between 1947 and 1989 alone.
The US should "immediately cease and desist from all explicit and implicit threats or uses of force against Venezuela", he said.
Sachs said, "Peace, and the survival of humanity, depends on whether the United Nations Charter remains a living instrument of international law, or is allowed to wither into irrelevance."
At the meeting, Russia's UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, also called for the immediate release of Maduro and his wife.
The Russian envoy called the US military action in Venezuela a "crime cynically perpetrated" and a harbinger of a return to an era of "lawlessness", stressing that any conflicts must be resolved through dialogue as enshrined in the UN Charter.
Backers of the US military operation in Venezuela, including Argentina, framed the action as a law-enforcement, anti-narco-terrorism step and argued it could open a path to restoring democracy.
Representatives of many countries pushed back by arguing that democracy cannot be delivered through force and coercion, and that any political outcome must be decided by Venezuelans through peaceful and lawful means.
Leonor Zalabata Torres, Colombia's UN envoy, said that "democracy cannot be promoted or defended through violence or coercion", and Venezuela deserves peace and democracy, prosperity and dignity, with a government whose sovereignty is defined by no one but the Venezuelan people and their institutions.
Mexico's UN envoy, Hector Vasconcelos, warned that "regime change by external actors and the application of extraterritorial measures" is contrary to international law and that, historically, all such actions have done is to exacerbate conflicts and weaken the social and political fabric of nations.
Paula Narvaez Ojeda, Chile's UN representative, noted that foreign interference caused extreme damage to her nation, and she stressed that democracy is best recovered through "the strength of organized citizens and through our institutions".
Spain's representative to the UN, Hector Gomez Hernandez, said that democracy "cannot be imposed by force" and "force never brings more democracy".
Brazil's UN ambassador, Sergio Franca Danese, said that international norms are "mandatory and universal" and do not allow for exceptions based on ideological, geopolitical or economic interests, such as the "exploitation of natural or economic resources".
The envoy dismissed the notion that "the end justifies the means", saying that such reasoning lacks legitimacy and grants the strongest the right to define what is just or unjust while imposing decisions on the weakest.
Representatives from other countries also emphasized that the US military intervention constituted a fundamental breach of the UN Charter and the principles of sovereign equality.
France's representative said that when a permanent member of the Security Council violates the UN Charter, it "chips away at the very foundation of the international order".
South Africa warned that "no nation can claim to be legally or morally superior" to another.
Pakistan said that unilateral military action "contravenes these sacrosanct principles", while the A3 group, consisting of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Liberia, said full respect for states' sovereignty and territorial integrity under the UN Charter is an essential foundation for international cooperation and peaceful coexistence.
The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife by US forces operating in Venezuela, and his forced transfer to the US for trial, pose a significant challenge for international law.
The US has described the operation as a judicial "extraction mission" undertaken by law enforcement operatives supported by the military. Yet this was a military operation of considerable scale, involving strikes on military targets in and around Caracas, the capital, and the forcible abduction of a sitting president by US special forces. It is clearly a significant violation of Venezuelan sovereignty and the UN Charter.
This fact is compounded by President Donald Trump's announcement during his news conference of Jan 3 that the US will "run" Venezuela and administer a political transition, or regime change, under the threat of further, more massive uses of force. In addition, there seems to be a determination to use the threat of force to extract funds and resources in compensation for supposed "stolen" or nationalized US assets and oil.
It is difficult to conceive of possible legal justifications for transporting Maduro to the US, or for the attacks. There is no UN Security Council mandate that might authorize force. Clearly, this was not an instance of a US act of self-defense triggered by a prior or ongoing armed attack by Venezuela.
The White House asserts that it is defending the American people from the devastating consequences of the illegal importation of drugs by "narco-terrorists" — consequences that could be compared to an armed attack against the US.
However, in international law, only a kinetic assault with military or similar means qualifies as a trigger for self-defense.
This leaves the argument of "pro-democratic intervention". Notably, the US did not use "pro-democratic" action as a "formal legal justification" when it invaded Grenada in 1983 and displaced its government. Neither did it do so when it invaded Panama in 1989 and captured the then president Manuel A. Noriega, with a view to putting him on trial for drugs offenses.
Washington avoided doing so because it feared creating a precedent that would justify "pro-democratic" interventions by other countries which it might oppose. Instead, it relied on an unconvincing claim to self-defense.
In the case of Venezuela, the US alleges that Maduro "stole" the presidential poll of 2024, that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was the true victor, and that Venezuelan authorities falsified the result of 2025 parliamentary elections.
But in classical international practice, those who exercise effective control over a country's population and territory will be treated as the government. Considerations of legal or political legitimacy matter less. Accordingly, most governments have abandoned the practice of formally recognizing newly established governments, however they come to power. If they are effective, they are the government.
However, in the 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, the doctrine articulated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gained in currency.
In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president of Haiti. But he was soon displaced in a coup mounted by a military junta. In 1994, after many failed diplomatic attempts to restore the democratic outcome of the elections, the UN Security Council formally authorized a US-led force to facilitate the departure of the generals. Faced with the imminent US invasion, they gave in and power was restored to Aristide.
This doctrine cannot be invoked in cases of creeping authoritarianism or in response to claims that elections have not been free and fair. It only applies in cases of counter-constitutional coups or where there is an election result that remains unimplemented by a sitting government.
The doctrine is generally only applied where the UN Security Council, or at least a credible regional organization, has granted a mandate — to avoid individual states seeking regime change in pursuit of their own agendas. Clearly, in this instance, there was no mandate from the UN or the Organization of American States.
Maduro and his wife will however find little comfort in the fact that they were removed from Venezuela by way of an internationally unlawful intervention. US courts consistently apply the so-called Ker-Frisbie doctrine, which holds that they will exercise jurisdiction, irrespective of the means by which the body of the defendant was procured for trial.
The US will also refuse to extend Maduro the immunities that automatically apply to a serving president when travelling abroad. This too, is legally controversial. But as Noriega experienced before him, the US authorities are unlikely to be deterred by this fact.
Overall, this episode further erodes international confidence in the principle, agreed after the horrors of the 20th century's world wars, that states must not enforce their legal claims or political demands through the use of force.
The fact that the US now claims to "run" Venezuela and to put in place its future government under the shadow of the gun, along with the demand to dominate the oil sector and extract compensation, will reawaken uncomfortable memories of previous US dominance in the region.
The UN Secretary-General has noted that the rules of international law have not been met in this instance, calling it a "dangerous precedent". Many other governments and international institutions are speaking out in a similar vein, though some others have expressed support.
It will be interesting to see whether the UK and other European US allies will be able to overcome the recently developed sense of diplomatic deference to President Trump and stand up in defense of the international rule of law. This may well be the moment when Western Europe realizes that the US has decisively abandoned the core values that united them for the past century.
The author is a professor of International Law and International Constitutional Studies in the University of Cambridge. The original version first appeared on the website.
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/01/us-capture-president-nicolas-maduro-and-attacksvenezuela-have-no-justification
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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump and his team are weighing "a range of options" to acquire Denmark's Greenland, including "utilizing the US military," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
"The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal," Leavitt told Xinhua in an emailed statement.
She said that "President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it's vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region."
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Monday that nobody would fight the United States if it tried to seize Greenland, which is Denmark's autonomous territory.
It was "the formal position of the US government that Greenland should be part of the US," Miller said in an interview with CNN.
"We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense," Trump reiterated in a phone interview with The Atlantic on Sunday, reaffirming that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to US intervention while claiming it was up to others to decide what a US large-scale strike against Venezuela means for Greenland.
Hours after the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro early Saturday morning, Miller's wife, Katie Miller, also a Trump ally, posted on X an image of a map of Greenland overlaid with the American flag, writing, "SOON."
"Our country isn't something you can deny or take over because you want to," Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Very basic international principles are being challenged" by Washington's repeated threats, Nielsen said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that "if the US chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War."
Leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Britain and Denmark issued a joint statement on Tuesday, which said that "it is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland."
The leaders underscored that Arctic security remains a key priority for Europe, and it is critical for international and transatlantic security, noting that NATO has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European allies are increasing their presence in the area.
Greenland, a former Danish colony, was granted home rule in 1979. In 2009, Denmark passed the Act on Greenland Self-Government, expanding the island's authority over its domestic affairs. However, Denmark retains authority over Greenland's foreign, defense and security policy, according to the Prime Minister's Office of Denmark.
"Annexing Greenland would be a strategic catastrophe" for the United States, Casey Michel, head of the Human Rights Foundation's Combating Kleptocracy Program, warned on Tuesday.
"Any attempt by the United States to claim the island would quickly spiral out of control," Michel wrote on Foreign Policy. "What alliance could survive something like this? What ally would ever trust the US not to do the same in the future?"
"In a world of imperialism, as the saying goes, appetite grows with eating," said Michel.
MADRID -- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday said that the US forcible seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro risked pushing the world into a dangerous new era and insisted his country would "not remain silent" in the face of violations of international law.
Speaking to the press after the Coalition of the Willing meeting for Ukraine in Paris, Sanchez said "The operation in Caracas sets a terrible and very dangerous precedent that pushes the world toward a future of uncertainty and insecurity, as we already suffered after other invasions driven by the thirst for oil."
He stressed that Spain could not recognize the legitimacy of a military action that violates international law and appears to serve no purpose other than overthrowing a government to seize its natural resources.
The Spanish government has been strongly critical of the attack on Venezuela, with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares saying on Monday that the attack was "clearly contrary to international law" and that "the use of violent means and force must be completely absent" from foreign policy.
Sanchez also said "We cannot accept it, just as we cannot accept the threat to the territorial integrity of a European state like Denmark," referring US President Donald Trump's threat to annex the Danish territory of Greenland.
"We will not remain silent in the face of increasingly frequent violations of international law. We will always stand on the side of legality. We will use all the resources at our disposal to strengthen multilateralism," Sanchez noted.
