President Donald Trump announced on Friday that U.S. forces carried out a deadly strike against what he described as a drug-smuggling vessel linked to a terrorist group in international waters.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the operation took place within the U.S. Southern Command’s jurisdiction, which covers Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. According to him, three men identified as “narcoterrorists” were killed in the attack.
“Under my direction, the Secretary of War authorized a kinetic strike against a vessel tied to a designated terrorist group engaged in drug trafficking in the USSOUTHCOM region,” Trump wrote. He added that intelligence reports confirmed the ship was carrying illegal narcotics along a known smuggling route intended to bring drugs into the United States.
The president stated that no American troops were injured in the course of the mission. In his message, he urged, “Stop bringing fentanyl, narcotics, and illegal drugs into the United States, and stop committing violence and terrorism against our people.” He also shared footage of the strike alongside his remarks. The announcement on Friday represents the administration’s third confirmed deadly strike this month against a suspected drug vessel, reflecting an intensified campaign against narcotics smuggling.
Earlier this week, former President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. military had carried out a strike on a boat in international waters off the coast of South America, killing three people. He claimed the vessel was transporting drugs from Venezuela, though officials have released no specifics about where the strike took place or how it was executed. In a video Trump shared on Monday, a small craft can be seen moving across open waters before being hit, sending up a column of dark smoke. The imagery closely resembled footage he had previously posted on social media days earlier.
When reporters pressed President Trump on Monday for proof that the targeted vessel was carrying narcotics, he replied, “We have proof. You could see the cargo scattered across the ocean massive bags of cocaine and fentanyl everywhere.”
This incident followed another U.S. military action earlier in the month in the Caribbean, which Trump said killed 11 individuals linked to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua criminal organization. The administration has provided only limited information about that operation as well. Asked for details at the time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to elaborate but insisted the United States possessed “absolute and complete authority” to carry it out.
Pentagon officials have not produced definitive proof that those killed in the initial strike were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, nor were they able to clarify the vessel’s intended destination. According to a source familiar with the classified briefing, officials also noted that the boat had reversed course during its journey, a detail that casts further doubt on whether it posed an imminent danger.
Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized the operation last week, saying, “There is no evidence whatsoever that this attack was carried out in self-defense.” He emphasized that under both U.S. and international law, the military cannot lawfully use deadly force against a civilian vessel unless it is responding to an immediate threat.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that the administration’s campaign is far from over. While visiting Mexico and Ecuador shortly after the strike, Rubio vowed that the United States intends to “wage combat against drug cartels that are flooding American streets and killing Americans.”
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