Secretary of War Pete Hegseth reported Tuesday evening that U.S. forces conducted a military strike in the Eastern Pacific targeting a vessel suspected of drug trafficking, killing two individuals described as “narco-terrorists.”
“Today, at the direction of President [Donald] Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO),” Hegseth posted on X.
Hegseth said the strike was carried out in international waters after intelligence confirmed the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and carrying a shipment of narcotics.
The Trump administration has faced scrutiny over the legality of such strikes and has argued the U.S. is in an “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels linked to the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro regime.
U.S. military operations targeting drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean have now resulted in 67 deaths and the destruction of 17 boats across 16 strikes, according to CNN.
Hegseth confirmed that two male “narco-terrorists” were killed in Tuesday’s strike and that no U.S. forces were harmed.
Department of War policy officials met with the House Armed Services Committee last week to respond to bipartisan congressional requests for greater legal justification for recent lethal strikes.
The White House has maintained that lethal military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific do not constitute “hostilities” that would trigger congressional approval under the War Powers Resolution.
“We will find and terminate EVERY vessel with the intention of trafficking drugs to America to poison our citizens,” said Hegseth.
“Protecting the homeland is our TOP priority. NO cartel terrorist stands a chance against the American military,” Hegseth concluded.
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