President Donald Trump has moved from ending fighting in the Middle East to publicizing new fighting in the war against drugs.
In a social media post published Tuesday afternoon, after wrapping up a whirlwind trip to Israel to celebrate the ceasefire he brokered between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas, Trump included video of a small boat being destroyed by the U.S. military just off the coast of Venezuela.
The occupants, whom Trump described as “six male narcoterrorists,” were killed.
“Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War, ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social social media platform.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route.”
The video was also published on the social media platform X by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
https://t.co/AYyPZuUsm9 pic.twitter.com/1gY3vBnvqa
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) October 14, 2025
As CBS News noted, it’s the fifth time the U.S. military has hit suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea — with deadly results.
The strikes have raised tensions in the region between the U.S. Navy and Venezuelan naval vessels.
But they are part of the Trump administration’s strategy of treating suspected drug vessels as military targets and designating drug cartels as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.”
The administration “has asserted it is treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force,” CBS reported.
Trump’s announcement Tuesday drew plenty of attention on social media.
You would think they would get with the script and stop launching these drug-laden boats. Nobody wants to blow up humans but on the weightier side, nobody wants Americans dying from drugs.
— Bothsidesnow101 (@Bothsidesnow101) October 14, 2025
We voted for this! Narco terrorist cartels killed 1.2 MILLION Americans from drug overdoes between 2000-2023. pic.twitter.com/oDx5s5nEl5
— American Association of Retired Republicans ℠ (@aarr_org) October 14, 2025
it really seems like drug dealers are slow learners
— isabelle scripps (@IsabelleElise10) October 14, 2025
Democrats, however, claim the strikes violate U.S. and international law, according to the Associated Press.
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