By Al Jazeera,Apps Support
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President Donald Trump has announced that the US military has carried out a strike on what he said was a Venezuelan drug cartel vessel that had been on its way to the United States.
Three men were killed in the attack on Monday, according to Trump, who said the strikes occurred in international waters.
“This morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump posted a video of a boat bobbing in the sea before exploding in a ball of orange flame as he announced the strike on social media.
“These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital US Interests.”
The attack follows a similar strike that killed 11 people earlier this month.
The first bombardment deepened the animosity between Washington and Caracas. On Friday, the Venezuelan government accused the US military of intercepting “harmless” fishing boats from the country.
The strikes also raised concerns over violations of international law and the rights of the targeted individuals, who have been extrajudicially executed without a right to due process.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 15, 2025
Some critics have questioned why the alleged drug dealers were not apprehended to face legal charges once they reached US territorial waters.
The US military has a history of misidentifying targets, leading to the killing of innocent civilians.
Trump warned on Monday that he would continue to target people his department believes are trying to get drugs into the US.
“BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!” he wrote.
Later on Monday, a reporter at the White House asked Trump whether he would provide evidence that the targeted vessel was carrying drug traffickers.
“All you have to do is look at the cargo that was like it spattered all over the ocean – big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place,” Trump said.
The footage shared by the president did not definitively show drugs on the ship.
Trump acknowledged that the military strikes may be hurting the fishing industry in Venezuela, which is already suffering from economic crises and US sanctions.
“If I were a fisherman, I wouldn’t want to go fishing here … because I’d say, ‘Man, if they maybe they think I have drugs downstairs. I don’t want that’. I think the fishing business probably has been hurt,” the US president said.
Growing tensions with Venezuela
Tensions between the longtime foes have reached new heights in recent weeks after Trump dispatched eight warships to waters near Venezuela to pressure the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro.
The US accuses the leftist president of heading a cocaine trafficking cartel and recently doubled its reward for his capture to $50m. Much of the international community rejected his July 2024 re-election, with the opposition claiming widespread fraud.
Maduro hit back on Monday, branding US Secretary of State Marco Rubio the “lord of death and war” over his tough rhetoric on Latin American cartels.
Referring to the US naval build-up and the earlier boat attack, Maduro told reporters that Caracas would “fully” exercise its “legitimate right to defend itself”.
Maduro often accuses the US of attempting regime change in his country.
Speculation has been swirling that the Trump administration could be preparing targeted strikes against Latin American drug cartels, including in Venezuela.
Trump refused to deny it was a possibility on Sunday.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters when asked if strikes on the Venezuelan mainland were possible. “Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers and drugs. It’s not acceptable.”
