The U.S. military said Sunday it destroyed two boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Saturday, killing five people and leaving one survivor, as the Trump administration pursues strikes against alleged traffickers in Latin America while preparing a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The attacks raise the toll in U.S. strikes on boats to at least 168 people killed since the administration began targeting so-called “narcoterrorists” in early September. U.S. Southern Command said the boats were struck along known smuggling routes but did not provide evidence the vessels were carrying drugs. Videos shared on X showed small boats moving across the water before each was consumed by a bright explosion.
Southern Command said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard, which confirmed it was coordinating search-and-rescue efforts for the lone survivor and would provide updates when available.
President Donald Trump has declared the U.S. to be in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has defended the strikes as necessary to slow drug flows and reduce overdose deaths in the United States. The administration has offered little public evidence that those killed were “narcoterrorists,” and critics have questioned both the legality and the effectiveness of the boat strikes.
Observers note that much of the fentanyl driving overdose deaths is trafficked overland from Mexico, where it is produced using chemicals imported from China and India, raising doubts about maritime strikes’ impact on the broader supply chain.
The Latin America operations have continued even as U.S. forces have been engaged in the Middle East, where the U.S. spent weeks at war with Iran. On Sunday, Trump said the U.S. Navy would begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without agreement. U.S. Central Command said the blockade would involve Iranian ports.