In a dramatic escalation of its campaign against international drug trafficking, the United States military has launched a series of lethal strikes on vessels allegedly carrying narcotics from Venezuela, with at least three such incidents publicly acknowledged in September 2025. The operations, ordered by President Donald Trump, have resulted in the deaths of at least 17 individuals aboard targeted boats, and have sparked a fierce debate over legality, oversight, and the broader geopolitical implications of these actions.
According to CBS News, President Trump announced the latest strike on Friday, September 26, declaring in a social media post that the U.S. military had conducted another “lethal kinetic strike” on a boat accused of carrying drugs. He stated that three “male narcoterrorists” were killed and emphasized, “No Americans were harmed.” Trump asserted, “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans.” He concluded his post with a forceful message: “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!”
This latest incident follows two previous U.S. military strikes on Venezuelan boats earlier in the month, the first of which killed at least 11 people, according to BBC. The Trump administration has described these vessels as “confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela… transporting illegal narcotics (a deadly weapon poisoning Americans) headed to the US.” President Trump told reporters he had been shown footage of the most recent strike by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, and insisted, “We have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean — big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place.”
The president has indicated that the military campaign, which so far has focused on maritime targets in international waters, could soon expand to land-based operations. “These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels pose a threat to national security, foreign policy, and vital US interests,” Trump wrote in a social media post. He also noted a decrease in the number of vessels in the Caribbean since the initial strike but acknowledged that cartels continue to smuggle drugs by land.
The strikes have been carried out by a formidable U.S. naval presence in the region. As reported by The Guardian, the operations involve the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, including the USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio, and USS Fort Lauderdale, with approximately 4,500 sailors and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit of roughly 2,200 Marines. The campaign has also seen the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets for anti-cartel missions.
Behind the scenes, the direction and oversight of these military actions have raised eyebrows in Washington and beyond. The Guardian revealed that Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, has been directly overseeing the strikes through the Homeland Security Council (HSC), a body that became separate from the National Security Council during Trump’s second term. Miller’s role has, at times, eclipsed that of Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio. Miller has described Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as the head of a “drug cartel,” arguing that the regime operates as a “narco-trafficking organization.” Miller’s deputy, Tony Salisbury, and other officials have reportedly controlled targeting information, with some senior Pentagon officials only being briefed hours before the strikes.
The Trump administration has justified these actions by designating the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization. This label, first invoked earlier in the year to defend deportations of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act, has been used to frame cartel activity as a “predatory incursion” by a foreign power. However, a divided federal appeals court ruled on September 2, 2025, that such deportations were unlawful, citing insufficient evidence that Tren de Aragua is an arm of the Maduro government.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has fiercely condemned the U.S. strikes, accusing Washington of using drug trafficking allegations as a pretext for military intervention and regime change. In a press conference, Maduro lambasted what he described as a weekend operation in which 18 U.S. Marines raided a Venezuelan fishing boat in the Caribbean. “What were they looking for? Tuna? What were they looking for? A kilo of snapper?” he asked rhetorically, before warning that the U.S. was “looking for a military incident.” Maduro insisted that the U.S. actions were designed to intimidate and provoke conflict in the Caribbean region.
Legal and ethical questions have proliferated in the wake of the strikes. Several U.S. senators from both parties have expressed concern that the president’s use of military force for law enforcement purposes may constitute an overreach of executive authority. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California announced he is drafting a war powers resolution to prevent further strikes without formal Congressional authorization. “These lawless killings are just putting us at risk,” Schiff warned, adding, “I don’t want to see us get into some war with Venezuela because the president is just blowing ships willy-nilly out of the water.” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was even more blunt: “President Trump’s actions are an outrageous violation of the law and a dangerous assault on our Constitution. No president can secretly wage war or carry out unjustified killings – that is authoritarianism, not democracy.”
Human rights organizations have echoed these concerns. Daphne Eviatar, director of Amnesty International USA’s Security with Human Rights Program, stated, “Let us be clear — this may be an extrajudicial execution, which is murder. There is absolutely no legal justification for this military strike.” Critics have pointed to the lack of transparency regarding the legal basis for the operations, especially after a spring restructuring left both the HSC and NSC without a dedicated in-house legal adviser.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration maintains that the strikes are justified under the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief and chief executive, citing the need to protect Americans and U.S. interests abroad. Pentagon General Counsel Earl Matthews, the Justice Department, and the White House Counsel’s Office have all cleared the legal theory supporting the strikes, according to The Guardian.
As the U.S. intensifies its campaign against alleged narcoterrorists in the Caribbean and beyond, the world watches closely. The stakes are high—not just for those directly involved, but for the principles of international law, the limits of presidential power, and the ever-fragile relationship between the United States and Venezuela. With questions swirling about oversight and the risk of broader conflict, the debate over these strikes is far from over.
