September 16, 2025 | 04:21 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. military has launched an attack on a ship from Venezuela. He claims the ship belongs to the Venezuelan drug cartel sailing towards the United States.
According to Trump, three people were killed in the attack on Monday, September 15, 2025. He said the attack took place in international waters. "This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility," Trump said in a post on Truth Social cited from Al Jazeera.
Trump uploaded a video of a ship bobbing in the sea before exploding into an orange fireball as he announced the attack on social media. "These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests."
This attack follows a similar one that killed 11 people earlier this month, further straining relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. On Friday, the Venezuelan government accused the U.S. military of intercepting harmless fishing vessels from the country.
The attack has also raised concerns about international law violations and the targeting of individual rights. Many Venezuelan citizens have been unlawfully executed without due process.
Some critics question why suspected drug traffickers are not arrested to face legal charges once they reach U.S. territorial waters.
The U.S. military has often misidentified targets, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians.
Trump warned on Monday that he will continue to target those believed to be attempting to smuggle drugs into the U.S. "BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!" he wrote.
On Monday, a reporter at the White House asked Trump if he would provide evidence that the targeted ship was carrying drug traffickers. "All you have to do is look at the cargo that was like it spattered all over the ocean – big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place," said Trump.
The recording shared by the president does not definitively show any drugs on the ship.
Trump acknowledged that the military attack may harm the fishing industry in Venezuela, which is already suffering from an economic crisis and U.S. sanctions. "If I were a fisherman, I wouldn’t want to go fishing here … because I’d say, ‘Man, if they maybe they think I have drugs downstairs. I don’t want that’. I think the fishing business probably has been hurt," said Trump.
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