A drug cartel vessel burns following a U.S. military strike, the third such strike carried out against a suspected drug boat in recent weeks, in a still from video released on Sept. 19, 2025. President Donald Trump via Truth Social via Reuters
U.S. military forces carried out their third strike against an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, President Donald Trump announced on Sept. 19.
Posting to Truth Social, the president said, “On my Orders, the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the [United States Southern Command] area of responsibility,” which intelligence had confirmed was “trafficking illicit narcotics.”
