White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that President Trump does not view the U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker as an escalation toward war with Caracas.

“I think the president considers the seizure of the oil tanker as effectuating the administration’s sanctions policies,” Leavitt said.

When asked whether U.S. involvement in Venezuela risks the potential for a prolonged conflict with the South American nation, Leavitt said Trump was not interested in a drawn out war.

“Prolonged war is definitely not something this president is interested in,” she said. “He’s been very clear about that. He wants peace. He also wants to see the end of illegal drugs being trafficked into the United States and taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans across the count

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