The U.S. has struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro, who has been taken out of the country, President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

The U.S. has not made such a direct intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega, Reuters reported.

“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Venezuelan government.

The U.S. has accused Maduro of running a “narco-state” and rigging an election. The Venezuelan leader, who succeeded Hugo Chavez to take power in 2013, has said Washington wants to take control of its oil reserves, the largest in the world.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said that if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, the United States of America will come to their rescue.

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” he said in a Truth Social post, Reuters reported.

This follows the deaths of several people as Iran’s biggest protests in three years over economic hardship turned violent across multiple provinces.

The clashes between protesters and security forces mark a significant escalation in the unrest that has spread across the country since shopkeepers began protesting on Sunday over the government’s handling of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices.

Iran’s economy has struggled for years since the U.S. reimposed sanctions in 2018, after Trump withdrew from an international nuclear agreement during his first term.

Dozens of people are feared to have been killed and around 100 injured after an explosion tore through a crowded bar during a New Year’s Eve party in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Swiss police said on Thursday.

The Italian foreign ministry said information from Swiss police indicated about 40 deaths, but police would not be more specific than “tens” at a press conference on the incident, Reuters reported.

The fire broke out at 1.30 a.m. (0030 GMT) in a bar called “Le Constellation” in the resort in southwestern Switzerland.

Some of the victims are from other countries, said Stephane Ganzer, head of security for the Valais canton. Authorities said 10 helicopters and 40 ambulances had been mobilised.

Police had earlier said many people were being treated for burns. Most of those injured were in a serious condition, said Mathias Reynard, head of the cantonal government. Valais hospital intensive care unit was full and patients being transferred elsewhere, he said.

The area has been completely closed off, and a no-fly zone has been imposed over Crans-Montana, police said in a statement, adding that the cause of the blast remained unclear.

The explosion was being considered a fire and not an attack, prosecutor Béatrice Pilloud said later, adding that authorities were trying to get the bodies of the victims to their families.