NEW YORK CITY: The US will not allow Venezuela to become a hub of operations for Iran, Hezbollah or other hostile actors, Washington’s ambassador to the UN said on Monday.

The comment by Mike Waltz came as he defended the US military operation on Saturday that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, who have been brought to New York to face criminal charges.

He told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that the operation was a “surgical law-enforcement action,” not a war against Venezuela or its people.

He described Maduro as an indicted narco-terrorist responsible for destabilizing the Western Hemisphere through large-scale drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, and cooperation with violent criminal organizations and foreign adversaries.

Waltz said the US would not allow Venezuela’s territory or its vast energy resources to remain under the control of illegitimate leaders aligned with Iran, Hezbollah, criminal gangs and Cuban intelligence services.

The permanent US representative to the UN argued that Maduro was never a legitimate head of state, citing the disputed results of elections in 2024 rejected by more than 50 countries and a UN panel that found the vote lacked basic transparency.

He compared the arrest to the capture by the US in 1989 of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, and said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would stand trial in a US court on charges including narco-terrorism and international drug trafficking.

President Donald Trump had offered diplomatic off-ramps, Waltz added, but would not allow narco-terrorism to continue to threaten US security.

Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, condemned the US operation as an act of aggression driven by foreign greed for his country’s natural resources.

He said the bombing of a sovereign country, and what he described as the kidnapping of a head of state, showed that the rule of international law was being treated as optional. Tolerating such actions would usher in a deeply unstable world governed by force rather than law, he added.

The UN’s political affairs chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, told council members that while Maduro was being held in New York on serious criminal charges the immediate future of Venezuela remained uncertain.

She warned of a risk of increased instability in the country, spillover effects across the region, and the dangerous precedent that the situation sets for relations between states.

The US military action appeared inconsistent with the UN Charter’s prohibition of the use of force, she added, and she called for inclusive democratic dialogue among Venezuelans.

The UN’s secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said over the weekend that the situation in Venezuela constituted “a dangerous precedent,” and he stressed the need for full respect for international law.

Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor and head of the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network, sharply criticized the US for what he described as a long history of regime-change operations.

He said US sanctions, covert actions and military pressure had contributed to an economic collapse in Venezuela, including a steep decline in oil production and living standards.

Sachs urged the Security Council to defend the UN Charter, called for the appointment of a special envoy for Venezuela, and demanded an end to US military pressure.

Colombia’s ambassador to the UN, Leonor Zalabata Torres, said Bogota condemned the US military action as a clear violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

She said that international law permits the use of force only in self-defense or with explicit authorization from the Security Council. Unilateral military action risks undermining regional stability, she added.

Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, accused the US of abducting the Venezuelan president, in breach of international law, and pursuing neocolonial ambitions in Latin America.

He called for Maduro to be immediately released and returned to Venezuela, and called for international unity against what he described as hegemonic behavior by the US. Allowing such actions to go unchallenged would weaken the credibility of the UN itself, he added.

China’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Sun Lei, said Beijing was “deeply shocked” by what he described as large-scale US military strikes and the forcible removal of Venezuela’s president.

He accused Washington of trampling on Venezuelan sovereignty and ignoring repeated international calls for restraint. He called for Maduro to be released and said disputes must be resolved peacefully under the UN Charter.

Bahrain’s ambassador to the UN, Jamal Fares Al-Ruwaieh, urged all parties to deescalate tensions and recommit to diplomacy.

Bahrain supports efforts to combat international organized crime and drug trafficking, he said, but such challenges must be addressed through international cooperation and legal frameworks.

He reaffirmed his country’s support for a political solution in Venezuela that respects national sovereignty and preserves regional stability.