US President Donald Trump said the US military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel, and hinted that the military targeting of cartels could be further expanded.
The administration’s account comes roughly two weeks after an earlier strike on what officials described as a Venezuelan speedboat that left 11 dead.
Trump announced the attack on his social media website Truth Social, “The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the US,” he wrote. “These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital US Interests.”
Later, in the Oval Office, the president said he had been shown video of the strike by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reports AP/UNB.
When a reporter pressed for evidence that the vessel contained drugs, Trump replied, “We have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean — big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place.”
Trump also hinted the campaign could move beyond maritime targets. He said that US forces have seen a decline in the number of vessels in the Caribbean since the first strike, but he warned traffickers are still using overland routes.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeated a hardline message on social media, writing on X that US forces would “track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere — at the times and places of our choosing.” The White House also released a short, unclassified clip of the strike.
The Trump administration framed the strikes as an urgent measure to curb the flow of dangerous drugs into American communities.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued the cartels “pose an immediate threat” to the United States.
But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, and human rights organisations have questioned the legality of Trump’s action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.
The administration has identified Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated by the US as a terrorist organisation, as a target in the earlier strike, and US officials have signalled more such actions could follow.
Trump did not say whether Tren de Aragua was the target of Monday’s operation.
The Trump administration has railed specifically against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for the scourge of illegal drugs in US communities.
Maduro accused Washington of using drug-trafficking allegations as a pretext for operations aimed “to intimidate and seek regime change” in Venezuela.
He also denounced what he described as a recent raid involving 18 US Marines on a Venezuelan fishing vessel, mocking the justification by commenting, “What were they looking for? Tuna?”
He added, “They were looking for a military incident. If the tuna fishing boys had any kind of weapons and used weapons while in Venezuelan jurisdiction, it would have been the military incident that the warmongers, extremists who want a war in the Caribbean, are seeking.”
News outlets reported that the struck boat had been turning back toward shore when it was hit, though Rubio said he could not confirm that detail.
He also offered a blunt prescription, “What needs to start happening is some of these boats need to get blown up.”
“We can’t live in a world where all of a sudden they do a U-turn and so we can’t touch them anymore.”
