WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. military targeted a vessel suspected of carrying drugs from Venezuela, resulting in the deaths of three individuals aboard.

“The strike took place while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in international waters, transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) heading to the U.S.,” Trump stated in a Truth Social post regarding the operation. “These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests.”

Trump added that the operation was conducted Monday, nearly two weeks subsequent to another military action against a speedboat from Venezuela, said to be carrying drugs, that led to 11 fatalities.

The Trump administration justified the earlier strike as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

However, various senators, including Democrats and some Republicans, have expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s justification, raising concerns about the legality of the strike. Some view it as a potential overstep of executive authority since the military was utilized for law enforcement duties.

The Trump administration has defended the first strike under the premise of self-defense, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserting that the drug cartels “pose an immediate threat” to the country.

U.S. officials confirmed the recent strike targeted Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang labeled as a terrorist organization by the U.S., hinting that additional military actions against drug targets are planned as part of the U.S.’s strategy to “wage war” on cartels.

Trump did not specify whether Tren de Aragua was also the target of Monday’s strike.

The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported strike.

The Trump administration has railed specifically against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for the scourge of illegal drugs in U.S. communities.

Maduro during a press conference earlier on Monday lashed out at the U.S. government, accusing the Trump administration of using drug trafficking accusations as an excuse for a military operation whose intentions are “to intimidate and seek regime change” in the South American country.

Maduro also repudiated what he described as a weekend operation in which 18 Marines raided a Venezuelan fishing boat in the Caribbean.

“What were they looking for? Tuna? What were they looking for? A kilo of snapper? Who gave the order in Washington for a missile destroyer to send 18 armed Marines to raid a tuna fishing vessel?” he said. “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.”

Speaking to Fox News earlier Monday, Rubio reiterated that the U.S. doesn’t see Maduro as the rightful leader of Venezuela but as head of a drug cartel. Rubio has consistently depicted Venezuela as a vestige of communist ideology in the Western Hemisphere.

“We’re not going to have a cartel, operating or masquerading as a government, operating in our own hemisphere,” Rubio said.

Following the first military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, America’s chief diplomat said Trump was “going to use the U.S. military and all the elements of American power to target cartels who are targeting America.”

AP and others have reported that the boat had turned around and was heading back to shore when it was struck. But Rubio on Monday said he didn’t know if that’s accurate.

“What needs to start happening is some of these boats need to get blown up,” Rubio said. “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.”

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AP writer Matthew Lee in Jerusalem contributed reporting.