Caracas, Venezuela: US President Donald Trump’s threat of considering military force in Venezuela is ‘craziness,’ the South American country’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said Friday.

‘This is an act of craziness, an act of supreme extremism,’ General Padrino, who is also in charge of Venezuela’s armed forces, told state television.

He was reacting to Trump saying just hours earlier that he was mulling ‘many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary’ because of its escalating political crisis.

‘There is an extremist elite governing the United States and honestly I don’t know what’s happening, what is going to happen in the world,’ Padrino said.

‘As a soldier, together with the FANB (Venezuela’s armed forces) and together with the people, I am certain that we will all be in the first ranks defending the interests and sovereignty of our beloved Venezuela.’