Trump Confirms Strike on Venezuelan Drug Sub Killed Two
President Donald J. Trump confirmed Friday that U.S. forces carried out a precision military strike that destroyed a Venezuelan drug-running submarine in the Caribbean Sea, killing two suspected narcoterrorists and capturing two others.
The president said the vessel — packed with “mostly fentanyl and other illegal narcotics” bound for the United States — was tracked and destroyed late Thursday night in an operation involving U.S. Navy and Coast Guard assets. Trump shared a dramatic photo of the strike and praised American forces for completing the mission without a single casualty, the Daily Mail reported.
“Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea,” Trump declared.
According to Trump, two of the traffickers were killed instantly in the strike, while two others survived and were pulled from the water by rescue helicopters. The surviving suspects — citizens of Ecuador and Colombia — will be repatriated for prosecution in their respective countries.
“No U.S. troops were injured in the operation,” Trump confirmed. “It’s a message to every cartel and every dictator who enables them.”
Defense officials said the strike occurred in international waters near Venezuela, targeting a semi-submersible vessel long suspected of smuggling narcotics into North America.
During a White House Cabinet meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump said the sub was carrying a “massive amount of drugs” and dismissed media speculation that the targets might have been civilians.
“Just so you understand, this was not an innocent group of people,” Trump told reporters.
Intelligence analysts monitoring the mission confirmed the vessel’s purpose before the strike, according to The New York Times. Video reportedly captured the two survivors floating among wreckage before being rescued and treated on a nearby Navy ship.
Two sources told The Washington Post that both men appeared unharmed and are cooperating with investigators. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether they are linked to Venezuela’s criminal syndicates or to the Maduro regime.
Trump’s decision to repatriate the suspects marks a departure from Obama- and Biden-era policy, under which captured traffickers were often detained and prosecuted in U.S. courts.
“This is a different kind of war,” one senior administration official said. “We are using every tool available to dismantle these operations where they begin — not where they end.”
The strike is part of President Trump’s expanded military campaign to crush narcotics networks across Latin America and the Caribbean. In recent months, U.S. forces have destroyed five Venezuelan drug vessels, killing roughly 27 traffickers, according to defense officials.
The Pentagon has also deployed over 4,000 Marines and sailors to the region to enhance interdiction operations, while the CIA has been authorized to conduct covert missions inside Venezuela to “neutralize threats before they reach American shores.”
Earlier this week, Trump revealed on Truth Social that the Secretary of War ordered a “lethal kinetic strike” against another narco-terrorist vessel — with Trump’s direct approval — reportedly killing six traffickers on board. The president said the operation was overseen by military analyst Pete Hegseth.
When asked about Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s reaction to the growing campaign, Trump didn’t hold back.
“He has offered everything, you’re right,” Trump said. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to [expletive] around with the United States.”
Venezuela’s socialist regime condemned the strike as “illegal” and “hostile,” with Foreign Minister Yván Gil warning that Caracas “will defend its sovereignty against any provocation.”
But President Trump made it clear that America’s war on narcoterrorism is only intensifying.
“We will not stop until every last narcoterrorist and every cartel partner is destroyed,” he vowed.