CIA director Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that Venezuela could become a “risk” to the US if chaos continues to roil the South American country.​ ​

“The Cubans are there; the Russians are there, the Iranians, Hezbollah are there​,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “​This is something that has a risk of getting to a very​,​ very bad place, so America needs to take this very seriously.”​ ​

He said President Trump was just trying to give the ​country’s ​people hope when he floated the idea ​on Friday that the US would take military action ​after condemning Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro for human rights abuses and calling for him to hold “free and fair elections.”

​”What I believe the president is trying to accomplish this week was to give the Venezuelan people hope and opportunity to create a situation where democracy can be restored,” Pompeo said.

But Trump’s comments led Maduro’s son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra,​ ​to respond by ​warning Washington it would retaliate with force.

​”​​If the US soils the homeland, the rifles would come to New York and take the White House​,​”​ he said, Politico reported on Saturday.

National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump has asked for a report on what could happen next in the country.

White House officials officials “want to not only be able to cope with the current situation, but understand better how this crisis might evolve​​,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The State Department called recent elections held by Maduro a “sham.”​

Vice President Pence began a tour through South American on Sunday, but was not expected to make a stop in Venezuela.