Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attacks will continue until “narco-terrorists” stop “poisoning” Americans.
Published November 7, 2025
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military has carried out another deadly attack on shipping in the Caribbean.
Three men were killed in the attack, Hegseth wrote on X late Thursday, saying the attack was carried out at the direction of US President Donald Trump and attacked “a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization.”
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Hegseth claimed the ship was attacked in international waters and posted an unclassified 20-second video clip showing a shell hitting and exploding as the ship hurtled through the ocean.
Hegseth gave no evidence that the ship was involved in drug smuggling, but said such attacks would continue until “narco-terrorists” stopped “poisoning the American people.”
“To all the narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: If you want to live, stop trafficking drugs. If you continue to traffic deadly drugs, we will kill you,” he said.
Since early September, more than 60 people have been killed in U.S. attacks on at least 18 vessels (17 boats and one semi-submarine) in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk condemned the strike as an “extrajudicial killing,” while U.S. lawmakers, mostly Democrats but also some senior Republicans, called for clarity from the Trump administration on the legal basis for carrying out the deadly attack in international waters.
The Trump administration has yet to release substantive evidence to substantiate its claims that the vessels are operated by drug traffickers.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused Trump of trying to destabilize his government through attacks and a major U.S. naval military buildup in the region in recent months.
Maduro, who has accused President Trump of involvement in drug trafficking, said Washington’s “war on drugs” was just a pretext to remove him from power.
President Trump has threatened to carry out a direct attack on Venezuelan territory. He also publicly stated that he authorized covert CIA operations in the South American country to counter drug cartels.
Senate Republicans on Thursday rejected a bill that would have curbed President Trump’s ability to launch an attack on Venezuela without Congressional approval.
Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, who pushed the resolution, which failed 51-49, said it was an “open secret” that the buildup of U.S. forces in the Caribbean was “much more concerned with the possibility of regime change” in Venezuela than with interfering with drug trafficking.
“If that’s the direction this administration is going, and what we’re risking is involvement in war, then we need to hear from Congress on this,” Schiff said.
