US strikes alleged drug-trafficking boat off Venezuela

President Trump ordered another lethal military strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean early Friday, signaling the administration is undeterred by mounting legal questions about the campaign.

The strike killed all four people who were on board, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said. The attack marks at least the fourth known US military strike in the Caribbean since the beginning of September, all of which have targeted boats the administration claims are “affiliated” with drug cartels that the US has designated as terrorist organizations in recent months.

Hegseth posted on X on Friday that at President Trump’s order, he directed the “lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”

Hegseth did not say which terrorist organization the boat was allegedly affiliated with, but added that “our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.” 

No US forces were harmed in the US Southern Command operation, which was ordered by President Donald Trump, according to Hegseth. “The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics—headed to America to poison our people,” Hegseth wrote in an X post.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the boat was “loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE.” Hegseth noted the strikes will continue “until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!”

The Trump administration in February designated drug cartel groups, including Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel, as foreign terrorist organizations. While some groups have raised questions about the legality of these strikes, it is clear that the administration is taking action to fight back against the drug cartels.