U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric toward Venezuela on Sunday, issuing a direct warning to interim President Delcy Rodríguez and stating that she would face consequences even more severe than those imposed on Nicolás Maduro if she fails to move in what Washington considers the “right direction.”

The warning was delivered during a phone interview with The Atlantic from Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, where the president made clear that the recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela may not be an isolated event. “If she doesn’t do the right thing, she will pay a very high price—probably higher than Maduro,” Trump said, signaling a new phase of pressure on Venezuela’s leadership following the detention of the longtime Chavista leader.

Trump’s remarks contrasted with the more pragmatic tone expressed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who earlier on Sunday said the United States is willing to work with Delcy Rodríguez and other Venezuelan leaders “if they make the right decisions.” Speaking on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Rubio said Rodríguez is someone “with whom negotiations are possible,” unlike Maduro, while stressing that any engagement would depend strictly on her concrete actions.

The tougher presidential rhetoric comes shortly after Venezuela’s judiciary and armed forces confirmed Rodríguez as interim president, amid extreme political tension and intense international scrutiny. Just a day earlier, Trump had said at a press conference that Rodríguez was willing to “do what we consider necessary to make Venezuela great again,” a remark that drew a swift and forceful response from Caracas.

Rodríguez publicly rejected those statements, saying her government is prepared to “defend the country’s natural resources.” She also demanded the release of Nicolás Maduro and delivered a strong sovereignty message: “We will never again be a colony.”

As Washington weighs its next steps, Trump left open the possibility of ordering a second wave of military action if Venezuela’s new leadership fails to meet his administration’s conditions. In the same interview with The Atlantic, the U.S. president also reiterated his strategic interest in Greenland, saying, “We need it for defense,” underscoring a foreign policy driven by direct pressure and geopolitical calculation.

Far from signaling stability, Venezuela’s transition is unfolding under growing threats of sanctions, conditional negotiations, and increasingly harsh rhetoric from the White House, which continues to place the Caribbean nation at the center of its hemispheric agenda.