The United States performed its very first recognized military strike on a thought drug-smuggling vessel in the Pacific Ocean, eliminating 2 people on board, Pentagon primary Pete Hegseth stated on Wednesday
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The United States performed its very first recognized military strike on a presumed drug-smuggling vessel in the Pacific Ocean, eliminating 2 people on board, Pentagon primary Pete Hegseth stated on Wednesday.
“There were 2 narco-terrorists aboard the vessel throughout the strike, which was carried out in worldwide waters. Both terrorists were eliminated and no United States forces were damaged in this strike,” which happened Tuesday,” Hegseth said in a post on X.
The other day, at the instructions of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a deadly kinetic strike on a vessel being run by a Designated Terrorist Organization and carrying out narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
The vessel was understood by our intelligence to be … pic.twitter.com/BayDhUZ4Ac
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 22, 2025
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The United States military strike on a presumed drug-smuggling vessel in the Pacific marks the very first recognized operation of its kind in the area considering that the Trump administration introduced a more aggressive project versus global drug trafficking.
That offensive has actually currently resulted in a minimum of 7 strikes in the Caribbean, considerably increasing stress in between the United States and local federal governments, especially Venezuela and Colombia.
A U.S. authorities, speaking on condition of privacy, verified that several people– thought to be smugglers– were aboard the vessel targeted in the Pacific, though no additional functional information were supplied.
The current strike comes in the middle of a wider U.S. military accumulation in the Caribbean, that includes the implementation of assisted rocket destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear-powered submarine, and roughly 6,500 soldiers.
Legal specialists have actually raised issues over the armed force’s growing function in drug interdiction, questioning why these operations are not being led by the U.S. Coast Guard– the main maritime police– and why non-lethal options are not pursued before introducing deadly strikes.
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In August, the Coast Guard started Operation Viper, targeted at obstructing drug deliveries in the Pacific. Since October 15, the company reported taking over 100,000 pounds of drug. It stays uncertain why a direct strike was picked in this case, instead of interdiction by the Coast Guard.
Simply recently, Reuters reported that 2 presumed traffickers made it through a different United States military strike in the Caribbean. They were later on saved and moved to a United States Navy warship before being repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador.
Far, at least 32 people have actually been eliminated in the Caribbean strikes, though the Trump administration has actually launched minimal info concerning the amount of drugs apparently included or the intelligence utilized to validate the operations.
With inputs from companies