Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a national TV broadcast in Caracas in this March 9, 2015 picture provided by Miraflores Palace. [Photo/Agencies]

CARACAS - A furious Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday US sanction measures were intended to topple his government.

"President Barack Obama, representing the US imperialist elite, has personally decided to take on the task of defeating my government and intervening in Venezuela to control it," Maduro said in a national TV address.

"That's why they have taken today's measure," the president said in his first reaction to the US sanctions against seven Venezuela officials. The United States also declared that the South American nation represents a national security threat.