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President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed that the U.S. military had carried out a strike on alleged drug vessels at a port that was likely in Venezuela, as the conflict with Nicolas Maduro’s regime appears to escalate.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs…so we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It’s an implementation area…and that is no longer around,” the president told reporters at Mar-a-Lago during a bilateral press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This comes just a few days after the president said that the U.S. had hit an alleged drug facility “very hard” last week. According to CBS, he told “Sid and Friends in the Morning” that the U.S. had “knocked out” a “big plant, or a big facility” where the alleged drug vessels originate.
It is unclear if this strike, allegedly on a port that has yet to be identified, counts as a technical land strike against Venezuela – assuming that is where the attack took place. If so, it could mark a notable escalation in the conflict with Maduro’s regime.
The Trump administration has taken serious steps to deter drug trafficking into the U.S., but it has further placed a staggering blockade on sanctioned oil tankers departing from or moving toward Venezuela.
U.S. military forces have continued to apprehend alleged oil tankers in the region, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you,” Noem said last week.
Per ABC, 15,000 U.S. troops and a cadre of lethal U.S. warships are hovering nearby in the Caribbean waters, but thus far, U.S. Coast Guard interdictions of these oil tankers may merely amount to a maritime quarantine. However, the U.S. military strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug dock could heat things up a bit.