The U.S. military killed four alleged “narco-terrorists” in a strike on a drug boat off Venezuela, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Friday.
The vessel, “affiliated with designated terrorist organizations,” was carrying large quantities of narcotics bound for the U.S., Hegseth said on X.
“Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route,” he wrote.
“These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!”
Friday’s strike marks at least the fifth U.S. hit on cartel boats since Sept. 2, under Trump’s policy treating drug traffickers as enemy combatants.
Watch the clip below:
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
President Trump highlighted the escalation in the fight against narco-terrorists during a speech Monday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, boasting that U.S. airstrikes destroyed four Venezuelan drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean.
“If you try to poison our people, we will blow you out of existence,” Trump said, referencing the cocaine- and fentanyl-laden ships. “That’s the only language they really understand. That’s why you don’t see any more boats on the ocean.”
Trump just called out Nicolás Maduro’s drug trafficking regime…with the Venezuelan delegates sitting right in front of him, forced to listen.
Then he dropped the line that made the room go still:
“We will blow you out of existence.”
They did not like it one bit.
“We’ve… pic.twitter.com/yHMjP1bLgs
— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) September 23, 2025
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