Venezuela has accused the United States of the greatest extortion at an emergency session of the UN Security Council in New York.
Washington's seizure of two Venezuelan oil tankers was worse than piracy, the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN said.
The emergency meeting of the Security Council was called to discuss the seizure of the tankers, which took place off the coast of Venezuela earlier this month.
The US has also said it was pursuing a third Venezuelan oil tanker.
President Trump has accused Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro of leading a drugs cartel and said gangs had operated with impunity for too long.
On 16 December, Trump ordered a naval blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. The US president has stated the US will keep or sell the crude oil contained on seized tankers, as well as the vessels themselves.
The US has deployed 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers, and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean, marking the largest deployment to the region since the US invasion of Panama in 1989. The operation aims to curtail the flow of fentanyl and cocaine to the US.
Some experts argue that the US strikes may violate international laws governing armed conflict.
Venezuela's envoy to the UN, Samuel Moncada, accused the US of conducting an act of extortion against his country, criticizing its actions as outside international law.
In response, US Ambassador Michael Waltz contended that the US does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader, framing the oil sales as a means for Maduro's alleged drug trafficking activities.
Russian and Chinese ambassadors spoke out against US actions, with Russia's envoy describing the seizures as illegal aggression.
