The US military carried out a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that killed three people, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a late-night post on X. Hegseth said the attack, ordered by President Donald Trump, struck a “vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization” and occurred in international waters. He posted a 20-second unclassified clip showing a munition hitting the fast-moving boat and triggering an explosion.
Hegseth framed the action as part of a campaign against narcotics trafficking, saying such strikes will continue until what he called “narco-terrorists” stop “poisoning” Americans. The administration has not publicly released evidence linking the struck vessel to drug smuggling or to the group Hegseth named.
The latest strike adds to a series of US operations at sea: since early September, more than 60 people have been killed in attacks on at least 18 vessels — 17 boats and one semi-submersible — in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, according to available tallies.
The strikes have drawn sharp criticism. United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk condemned the operations as extrajudicial killings. Members of Congress — predominantly Democrats, along with several senior Republicans — have pressed the administration for legal justification and evidence for carrying out lethal strikes in international waters.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused the US of using anti-drug operations as a pretext to destabilize his government, pointing to an increased US naval presence in the region. The Trump administration has publicly accused Maduro of ties to drug trafficking; Trump has also threatened strikes on Venezuelan territory and said he has authorized covert CIA operations in the country to counter cartels.
Domestic political friction over the policy surfaced in the Senate this week, when Republicans rejected a resolution that would have restricted the president’s ability to launch attacks on Venezuela without congressional authorization. The measure, pushed by Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, failed 51-49. Schiff argued the military build-up and recent operations appear to signal preparations for potential regime change in Venezuela rather than a focused counternarcotics effort, and he urged greater congressional oversight if broader conflict is being risked.
The administration has so far not provided comprehensive public evidence to substantiate its claims about the targeted vessels. Advocacy groups, international officials and some lawmakers continue to call for clearer legal and factual explanations for the strikes and for assurance that operations comply with international law and human rights obligations.