WASHINGTON: The United States warned on Wednesday (Jan 23) that "all options" will be considered if Venezuela's hard-left President Nicolas Maduro uses force in his standoff with opposition leaders.

"If Maduro and his cronies choose to respond with violence, if they choose to harm any of the National Assembly members ..., all options are on the table for the United States in regards to action to be taken," a senior administration official told journalists.



The official, who asked not to be named, did not explicitly rule out military intervention of some kind.

However, he focused on what he said would be powerful economic measures against Maduro and his entourage.

"Let us be clear that we have a host of options. We will take every single one of those options seriously," the official said.

The official said that, regarding economic sanctions against the Maduro leadership, "there is still a tremendous amount of leverage and still a tremendous amount of magnitude."



US pressure would make "very clear to them that they have no immediate future, they will have no immediate livelihood and therefore one way or other will have their days counted," the official said.