US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that the US ordered an attack on another suspected drug boat that set off from Venezuela.
"Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the attack and no US forces were injured in the operation. The attack took place in international waters off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting significant quantities of narcotics - destined for America to poison our people," Hegseth said in an X-post, which included footage of the attack.
The defense secretary did not provide further details about the attack and only claimed that intelligence "confirmed that this ship was trafficking narcotics, the people on board were narco-terrorists and were operating on a known transit route for narcotics trafficking."
This is now the fourth attack on the Venezuelan coast in what the Trump administration insists are international waters.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration told Congress that it believes it is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and that it believes anyone smuggling illegal drugs should be considered an “unlawful combatant.” The term is a legal term used during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by the government to justify deadly force by military troops, as well as indefinite detention.
Earlier this morning, on President Trump's orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the… pic.twitter.com/QpNPljFcGn
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 3, 2025