WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the U.S. military successfully executed its third deadly attack against a suspected drug-smuggling vessel this month.
In a social media update, Trump revealed that the operation resulted in three fatalities and targeted a vessel linked to a “Designated Terrorist Organization” involved in drug trafficking within the USSOUTHCOM area. He refrained from sharing more specific details about where the strike took place.
The Pentagon deferred questions about the strike to the White House, which did not respond to a request for clarity about the origins of the vessel.
Trump explained that intelligence confirmed the vessel was transporting illegal drugs and was traveling along a well-known drug route with the intention of harming Americans.
Additionally, Trump shared a video showcasing the strike. In the clip, a vessel can be seen speeding across the water before being hit by two missiles from above, causing it to burst into flames and sink.
“It was at this moment, the narcoterrorists knew they screwed up,” commented White House communications director Steven Cheung on X, accompanying the video.
Earlier on Monday, Trump had disclosed that the U.S. military conducted another strike on a boat allegedly smuggling drugs from Venezuela, which also resulted in the death of three occupants.
That followed a Sept. 2 military strike on what the Trump administration said was a drug-carrying speedboat that killed 11. Trump claimed the boat was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang, which was listed by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organization earlier this year.
The Trump administration has justified the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, as well as human rights groups 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 Trump administration has yet to explain how the military assessed the boat’s cargo and determined the passengers’ alleged gang affiliation before the attacks on the vessels. National security officials told members of Congress that the first boat taken out was fired on multiple times after it had changed course and appeared headed back to shore.
The strikes follow a buildup of U.S. maritime forces in the Caribbean.
It marks a dramatic shift in how the U.S. is willing to combat drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere.
In Venezuela, some are speculating whether the strikes are part of a plan to try to topple President Nicolás Maduro, a notion that the Venezuelan leader has echoed.
Maduro claimed after the first strike that a U.S. video released by Trump was created with artificial intelligence and that a boat of that size cannot venture into the high seas.
But earlier this week Maduro lashed out at the U.S., 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.
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AP writers Regina Garcia Cano in Güiria, Venezuela, and Konstatin Toropin contributed reporting.
