VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro said that his security forces prevented a “false-flag operation” on Monday to plant explosives at the United States embassy in the capital Caracas in order to heighten tensions with Washington, it was reported on Tuesday.

This comes amid a huge US military build-up off the coast of the Latin American country.

Mr Maduro said that two reliable sources had informed his government of the possible attack by “extremist sectors of the local Venezuelan right.”

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

The goal was to lay the blame for the attack on Venezuela’s government, which would then “begin an escalation of conflict” with the US, he said.

After finding out about the potential attack, the president said he ordered the country’s security forces to provide additional security to the embassy.

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 maintenance 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.

Sources say Mr Trump told his special envoy, Richard Grenell, who had been leading negotiations with the Venezuelans, to stop all outreach with Caracas.

In August, Mr Trump accused Mr Maduro of being one of the world’s major drug traffickers and announced that a bounty for his capture would be doubled to $50 million (£37m).

This came as Mr Trump deployed an armada of US Navy ships and a submarine off the Venezuelan coast.

Last Friday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced four people were killed in a strike on a small vessel in the Caribbean, which the White House claims is involved in drug trafficking and crewed by “narco-terrorists.”