Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his security forces prevented a “false flag operation” to plant explosives at the United States Embassy in the capital Caracas in order to heighten tensions with Washington, amid a US military build-up off the coast of the Latin American country. In a televised interview late on Monday, Maduro said two reliable sources, one domestic and one international, had informed the government of the possible attack by “extremist sectors of the local Venezuelan right” and security forces were sent to reinforce the embassy.

The sources “agreed on the possibility that a local terrorist group placed an explosive device at the US Embassy in Caracas”, Maduro said.

Following the rupture of diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington in 2019, the US Embassy is closed and only maintains staff responsible for security and upkeep of the premises.

News of the alleged plan to attack the embassy comes as US President Donald Trump is reported to have called off efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement with Venezuela, telling his special envoy Richard Grenell – who had been leading negotiations with Maduro’s government – to stop all outreach with Caracas.

An unnamed senior US official told the Reuters news agency on Monday that Trump delivered the message to Grenell during a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday with senior military leaders.

The official also told Reuters that Trump has not yet determined whether to advance his military campaign from currently attacking so-called drug-carrying Venezuelan ships in the Caribbean Sea to a second phase, which reportedly involves attacks on sites in Venezuela.