President Donald Trump stated Friday he ordered one other strike towards a ship in worldwide waters within the Caribbean that he stated was “trafficking illicit narcotics.”
“On my orders, the Secretary of Warfare ordered a deadly kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Group conducting narcotrafficking within the US SOUTHCOM space of accountability,” Trump stated in a put up on his social media platform.
It was the third such strike focusing on alleged drug traffickers — and the second this week.
U.S. Southern Command’s space of accountability consists of South America and the Caribbean Sea.
Trump’s put up didn’t say when the newest strike was carried out.
(FILES) This display seize from a video posted by US President Donald Trump on his Reality Social account on September 15, 2025, exhibits what President Trump says is US Army forces conducting a strike on a ship carrying alleged drug traffickers within the Caribbean Sea within the SOUTHCOM space of accountability on Monday, September 15, 2025. Venezuela stated on September 19, 2025, it might search a United Nations probe of US strikes that killed 14 alleged drug traffickers on not less than two boats in worldwide waters off its coast.
Handout/US President Donald Trump’s TRUTH SOCIAL by way of Getty
In keeping with Trump, the strike killed three males, who he referred to as “narcoterrorists.”
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a video on social media exhibiting a rushing craft transferring rapidly by the water earlier than being struck by an obvious missile after which engulfed in a big burst of flame.
The Pentagon referred inquiries to the White Home, which didn’t instantly reply.
Trump stated intelligence indicated the vessel was trafficking medication and was “transiting alongside a identified narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison People.”
The strike earlier this week additionally killed three individuals, Trump stated.
Prior to now, the U.S. authorities has relied on the U.S. Coast Guard and legislation enforcement personnel to board vessels suspected of carrying medication for inspection.
However earlier this 12 months, Trump insisted that drug cartels must be in the identical authorized class as international terrorist organizations, paving the way in which for the type of deadly army pressure reserved underneath the legislation to stop an imminent kinetic assault towards People.
Critics of his administration have questioned this authorized justification and whether or not it quantities to a warfare crime.
