In another major announcement on X, the Trump Administration Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, announced that the United States has conducted yet more strikes on boats that were allegedly being used to smuggle drugs through international waters. The strikes targeted two boats and came on Sunday, November 9. Hegseth announced the strikes on Monday the 10th.
For reference, the Trump Administration has deployed a large suite of naval and air assets to the Caribbean and Pacific coast in recent weeks, and has started using them to take a much tougher line on drug smuggling than past administrations, particularly as applied to boats carrying hard narcotics like cocaine and fentanyl that are coming out of Venezuela.
In fact, the administration has been hitting those boats with air strikes, and 19 total drug vessels have been struck in international waters so far. As fentanyl kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, the strikes have been justified as saving lives by stopping the fentanyl from ever reaching America, and making the drug trade much more dangerous.
So, the two strikes carried out on Sunday came as part of that campaign, and destroyed two vessels that were allegedly trying to run such narcotics through the Caribbean. Both were destroyed by air strikes, with Pentagon footage showing the vessels exploding in fireballs with debris spraying everywhere.
Beginning his announcement of the strikes, Secretary of War Hegseth noted that the vessels were being operated by terror groups, presumably meaning Tren de Aragua or another cartel. He said, “Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, two lethal kinetic strikes were conducted on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.”
Continuing, the Secretary of War explained that American intelligence revealed that the strikes were conducted in the Pacific, providing, “These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route in the Eastern Pacific.”
Adding to that, he explained that each vessel had three alleged “narco-terrorists” aboard, meaning the death toll from the two strikes was six, with no American forces left injured by the attacks. He said, “Both strikes were conducted in international waters and 3 male narco-terrorists were aboard each vessel. All 6 were killed. No U.S. forces were harmed.”
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He further added that the Department of War and Trump Administration generally remain resolutely in support of protecting the American homeland from the cartels that are flooding our nation with deadly products. He said, “Under President Trump, we are protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people.”
Watch the strikes here:
Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, two lethal kinetic strikes were conducted on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.
These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and… pic.twitter.com/ocUoGzwwDO
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 10, 2025
Commenters on Hegseth’s post noted that though the left is freaking out about these, average Americans remain broadly in support. One such commenter said, “I don’t think the Left appreciates how much normal people enjoy these. Yes, they’re human beings. Who unfortunately choose to import drugs that kill hundreds thousands of other human beings. Some of whom we know.” Another wrote, “Every one of these videos is thousands of American souls getting a second shot at life. Thank you for the white pill.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video