US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 2, 2025. SAUL LOEB / AFP
President Donald Trump said that US forces had attacked a boat carrying drugs to the United States on Tuesday, September 2, killing 11 "narcoterrorists" from a gang he alleged was controlled by leftist Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Trump posted a video online of an open-topped speedboat carrying a number of people traveling on a body of water before it exploded in a ball of flames.
The move is a potentially significant escalation in the standoff between Caracas and Washington, after the US deployed warships to the southern Caribbean in what it bills as a war on drug trafficking.
Trump initially announced at the White House that US forces had "shot out a boat (...) a drug carrying boat, lots of drugs in that boat" without giving details. The Republican later posted a statement about the strike on his Truth Social network, along with the black and white video of the exploding boat.
"Earlier this morning, on my Orders, US Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists," Trump said. "The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in international waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action."
