Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. military on Monday struck three boats allegedly carrying narcotics into the United States. He said the strikes killed 14 and left one survivor.
Hegseth released a statement Tuesday along with a video showing the strike. In the video, you can see two boats next to each other in the water before a missile strikes them, causing a large explosion. The video then cuts to a different ship on the water before it cuts to the boat engulfed in flames.
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What are the details on the strikes?
In his post, Hegseth said eight “narco-terrorists” were in the first boat the military struck. Four others were in the second boat, and three were in the final ship.
Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out three lethal kinetic strikes on four vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific.
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 28, 2025
The four vessels were known by our intelligence… pic.twitter.com/UhoFlZ3jPG
He said the strikes happened in international waters, and military intelligence confirmed the boats were carrying narcotics. Hegseth did not say how much the ships were carrying. He did not mention where the boat left from or where it was going.
Hegseth compared the alleged drug traffickers to al-Qaida and said strikes like these would continue.
“These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same,” he wrote. “We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”
When did these strikes begin?
The three strikes are the 13th by the U.S. military in recent weeks. The first was in early September, when the U.S. hit one boat and killed 11 alleged traffickers.
The strike led Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and two dozen other Democratic senators to write a letter to the White House criticizing the strikes and stating the administration has provided “no legitimate legal justification” for carrying out the strike.
Less than a week later, the Trump administration announced a second strike. The strike killed three people. When asked about proof, President Donald Trump told reporters, “We have proof,” and referred to the video of the strike. However, the White House never released videos confirming the boat was carrying drugs.
On Oct. 2, a month after the first strike, Trump declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and said the U.S. is in an “armed conflict.” Politicians, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., criticized the memo, saying only Congress can declare war.
Two weeks later, Trump announced a sixth strike had killed six and left two survivors. He said the two survivors would be sent back to their home countries “for detention and prosecution.”
In the last week, the U.S. military has carried out five separate strikes, including Monday’s operation.
