Pete Hegseth Vows to 'Track, Kill and Dismantle' Narcoterrorists After Newest Strike on Venezuelan Ship

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Monday vowed that the United States will pursue narcoterrorists across the hemisphere after a second U.S. military strike on a Venezuelan vessel in international waters.

"Narco-terrorists are enemies of the United States — actively bringing death to our shores," Hegseth wrote in a post on X which was accompanied by a White House video with images from the alleged strike. "We will stop at nothing to defend our homeland and our citizens. We will track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere — at the times and places of our choosing."

The White House post, in the meantime, contained the following caption:

"BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU! The illicit activities by these cartels have wrought DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES ON AMERICAN COMMUNITIES FOR DECADES, killing millions of American Citizens. NO LONGER"

President Donald Trump said earlier that the strike had destroyed an alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling boat and killed three men on board. It followed a similar attack on September 2 that killed 11 people, which Trump described as targeting "extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists." In both cases, the administration has claimed the boats carried cocaine and fentanyl, though it has not released independent evidence.

"Look at the cargo — it was spattered all over the ocean — big bags of cocaine and fentanyl," Trump said in the Oval Office. He added that U.S. forces recorded the incidents "very carefully" to prove their case.

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro had denounced the September 2 attack as a "heinous crime" just hours before the second attack was announed. Maduro, speaking to reporters in Caracas, accused Washington of conducting "a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country" and argued the United States is seeking "regime change for oil" rather than combating narcotics.

Legal experts have questioned whether targeting suspected traffickers in international waters complies with international law, noting that drug trafficking is not punishable by death in the United States and that Congress has not authorized military action against cartels. Administration officials, however, argue the strikes are justified under the laws of armed conflict because more than 100,000 Americans die each year from overdoses.

The Trump administration has accused Maduro of overseeing a criminal enterprise known as the Cartel of the Suns and continues to offer a $50 million reward for his capture. Maduro has denied the allegations and called the U.S. operations an imperialist attempt to oust him from power.