The US Navy guided missile destroyer USS Gravely is docked at Rafael Cordero Santiago Port of the Americas on September 11, 2025, in Ponce, Puerto Rico. MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO / AFP
President Donald Trump said on Monday, September 15, that the US military again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three people aboard the vessel.
"The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the US," Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the strike. "These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital US Interests."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later took to X to warn cartels the United States would "track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere − at the times and places of our choosing," echoing muscular language used by past administrations during the Global War on Terror. The White House also posted a short unclassified video clip on social media of the strike.
The strike that Trump says was carried out on Monday came two weeks after another military strike on what the Trump administration says was a drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela that killed 11.
