The United States military has launched another deadly strike in the Caribbean, targeting what officials described as a “narco-trafficking vessel,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Friday morning.
According to Hegseth, all four people aboard the vessel were killed in the attack, which was ordered by President Donald Trump.
The strike marks the fourth known US military operation in the region since early September, each aimed at boats alleged to be linked with drug cartels recently labeled as terrorist organizations by Washington.
Hegseth stated on X that, under Trump’s directive, he authorized a “lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations within the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”
The strike reportedly occurred in international waters just off Venezuela’s coast — a move likely to escalate already tense relations between Washington and Caracas.
Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, earlier in the week, warned that he was preparing to declare a state of emergency to defend the country from a potential US attack.
While Hegseth did not name the group allegedly connected to the targeted vessel, he claimed that “intelligence clearly confirmed” the boat was carrying narcotics and crewed by “narco-terrorists” operating on a well-known smuggling corridor. He further alleged that the vessel was “transporting substantial amounts of drugs bound for the United States to poison our people.”
The US has previously justified similar operations by claiming the targeted boats posed imminent threats to American lives.
However, reports suggest that at least one vessel struck in September had turned back before being hit, raising questions about the necessity and legality of such actions.
Critics, including legal scholars and bipartisan lawmakers, have challenged the administration’s legal rationale. Brian Finucane, a former State Department attorney specializing in war powers, told CNN that the government’s explanations “don’t form a coherent legal justification.”
In a letter to Congress this week, the Pentagon said President Trump had determined that the US is in an “armed conflict” with the designated drug cartels and that their smugglers qualify as “unlawful combatants.”
By framing the operations as part of an ongoing armed conflict, the administration has signaled that these strikes may continue indefinitely.
Hegseth reinforced that stance in his Friday post, declaring, “These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!”
