Trump confirms U.S. strike on alleged Venezuelan drug boat

NPR's International Desk

September 02, 2025 / 4:07 pm

Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela are rising. Days after sending U.S. gunboats to South American waters, President Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. Navy struck a vessel in the southern Caribbean carrying what he described as a Venezuelan drug shipment.

Trump told reporters during an Oval Office event that the operation happened "over the last few minutes, (we) literally shot out a a boat, a drug carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat."

Moments later Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted confirmation, calling it a "lethal strike" on a vessel operated by a "designated narco-terrorist organization."

In a later Truth Social post about the operation, Trump said 11

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