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The debate underscores that the administration’s Venezuela strategy remains in flux, despite a buildup of military forces in the region and public threats by Trump to launch attacks.

What began as a counternarcotics campaign with airstrikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels has transitioned into the most muscular U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean in decades—one now squarely aimed at pressuring, and potentially ousting, Maduro.

But even basic questions, such as whether the goal is to remove Maduro or compel him into concessions, remain undecided, the officials said.

Trump continues to query aides about military options, the officials noted, leading some to suggest the president might eventually order an attack. The options presented to him range from intensifying economic pressure to military action inside Venezuela, including possibly against military and government facilities.

For now, officials say Trump is content with slowly building up U.S. forces in the region and continuing to strike boats allegedly smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific. The latest such attack occurred Tuesday when the U.S. military destroyed a vessel in the Eastern Pacific, killing two alleged drug traffickers.

“We’re blowing them up, linked to the Maduro regime in Venezuela and others,” Trump said Wednesday during a speech in Miami.

There is no timeline for a decision on whether to step up the campaign, officials said. Trump remains wary about getting directly involved in Venezuela after a first-term attempt to oust Maduro by supporting his opposition failed, former officials involved in that effort said. He also has longstanding apprehensions about using the military for possible regime change.

“The president has said he would continue to strike narcoterrorists trafficking illicit narcotics—anything else is speculation and should be treated as such,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary.

Trump has been presented with three broad options to increase pressure on Maduro, the officials said.

They include stepping up economic pressure on Venezuela with sanctions and increased tariffs on countries that buy its oil; supporting Venezuela’s opposition while adding more U.S. military assets in the region to raise pressure on Maduro; and finally a campaign of airstrikes or covert operations aimed at government and military facilities and personnel. The options were previously reported by the New York Times.

The Justice Department is working on a legal justification allowing Trump to target the Venezuelan leader as part of a military operation, the officials added. Justice Department officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has branded Maduro a “narco-terrorist,” accusing him of heading a trafficking network that is conspiring to “flood the United States with cocaine.” The U.S. in August issued a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro for narcotrafficking.

The steps taken already by the U.S. to persuade him that he can’t remain in power could prompt some members of the country’s security elite to turn on Maduro and oust him first, U.S. officials say.

The administration has been in touch with the Venezuelan opposition, current and former officials said.

“Maduro has to understand that the hours are running out,” Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Wednesday, speaking remotely to a Miami business forum that Trump was also attending. “If he accepts a transition, it will move forward orderly and faster—but it will take place regardless of whatever Maduro does.”

Some U.S. officials say there is no need to force out Maduro as long as he agrees to curb drug trafficking, give the U.S. more access to Venezuela’s oil reserves and promises to hold fair elections.

Sen. Jim Risch (R, Idaho), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview that Maduro has conspired with drug cartels designated by the U.S. as terrorists, “and is going to be subject to the same fate.”

But Risch, who also sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, added that he has seen no indication of the U.S. preparing military actions against Venezuela. “The president could change his mind, of course, because he is becoming very impatient and very unhappy with Maduro.”

Some senior Democrats think it is unlikely Trump will actually take military action.

“The press is far more convinced that the United States is going to attack Venezuela in some way than the administration actually is,” Rep. Jim Himes (D., Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in an appearance Tuesday at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I continue to be pretty bearish on the notion that we’re going to get militarily involved in Latin America.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, has played a major role in crafting Trump’s strategy and military campaign against drug boats, officials and State Department aides said. He briefed lawmakers on the plan Wednesday afternoon.

Last week, Trump publicly warned about possible attacks inside Venezuela. “The land is going to be next,” he told reporters, suggesting strikes directly within the country.

But he has toned down his comments since. Asked Friday by reporters if he was considering bombing military targets in Venezuela, Trump flatly said “No.” He then told CBS News’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday that he doubted the U.S. would go to war with Venezuela. But asked if Maduro’s days as president were numbered, he answered: “I would say, ‘Yeah.’ I think so, yeah.”

Maduro has accused Washington of trying to topple him, calling the military campaign “regime change through military threat.” Yet in a letter to Trump after the initial strikes in September, Maduro promised to produce data showing his country doesn’t traffic drugs. Last month, Trump said Maduro was willing to give “everything” to ease tensions, adding “he doesn’t want to f—around with the United States.”

Trump has switched course on military action before. He initially sought a deal to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, giving Tehran up to two weeks before he would authorize strikes. But within hours, B-2 bombers destroyed Iranian nuclear facilities, an operation Trump touts as a major success.

The Pentagon announced Oct. 24 that Trump had ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford and its carrier strike group to the Caribbean, where it will join eight naval warships already in the region. The arrival of the Ford and its accompanying warships will give the U.S. additional firepower in the event Trump decides to order airstrikes, using jet fighters and long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The carrier spent the past 12 days making its way across the Mediterranean, a much slower pace than anticipated. It is likely the ship is moving slowly to complete additional training, including flight operations, to prepare for the Caribbean deployment, experts said. It is also due to undergo routine maintenance before entering a potential war zone, according to two U.S. officials.

“When they deployed, they probably didn’t prepare for this scenario, this operation in the Caribbean,” said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. “I think this is probably the need for them to make sure that they are proficient at the kinds of actions they would need to do in the Caribbean.”