President Donald Trump mentioned Friday he ordered one other strike towards a ship in worldwide waters within the Caribbean that he mentioned was “trafficking illicit narcotics.”
“On my orders, the Secretary of Conflict ordered a deadly kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Group conducting narcotrafficking within the US SOUTHCOM space of duty,” Trump mentioned in a submit on his social media platform.
It was the third such strike concentrating on alleged drug traffickers — and the second one this week.
U.S. Southern Command’s space of duty contains South America and the Caribbean Sea.
Trump’s submit didn’t say when the most recent strike was carried out.
(FILES) This display screen seize from a video posted by US President Donald Trump on his Reality Social account on September 15, 2025, reveals 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 duty on Monday, September 15, 2025. Venezuela mentioned on September 19, 2025, it might search a United Nations probe of US strikes that killed 14 alleged drug traffickers on a minimum of two boats in worldwide waters off its coast.
Handout/US President Donald Trump’s TRUTH SOCIAL by way of Getty
In accordance with Trump, the strike killed three males, who he known as “narcoterrorists.”
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a video on social media displaying a rushing craft shifting shortly by means of 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 mentioned intelligence indicated the vessel was trafficking medicine and was “transiting alongside a identified narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Individuals.”
The strike earlier this week also killed three people, Trump mentioned.
Up to now, the U.S. authorities has relied on the U.S. Coast Guard and regulation enforcement personnel to board vessels suspected of carrying medicine 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 best way for the form of deadly navy drive reserved underneath the regulation to stop an imminent kinetic assault towards Individuals.
Critics of his administration have questioned this authorized justification and whether or not it quantities to a battle crime.
