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The United States carried out its eighth strike against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel Tuesday night, this time off the Pacific coast of South America, officials reported. At least two people aboard the boat were killed, marking the first strike outside the Caribbean in the series of operations that began Sept. 2.
The White House pointed reporters to a post by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on X when asked for comment. His message said the action was taken at the direction of the president.
“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics. There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.
“Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere. Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness—only justice.”
Administration officials have described the operations as part of a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, arguing that the cartels’ smuggling activities amount to an armed attack that causes tens of thousands of deaths in the United States each year. At least 34 people have died in the U.S. strikes targeting suspected narcotics traffickers, officials said.
The operation followed a strike on Friday that killed three people in the Caribbean.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” Hegseth wrote. “There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike—which was conducted in international waters,” Hegseth wrote in a post to X.
“All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike,” he added.