U.S. military strikes drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, Rubio says

Washington — The U.S. military on Tuesday struck a drug-carrying boat hailing from Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, as tensions spike between the Trump administration and the Venezuelan government.

President Trump announced the strike in an unrelated Tuesday afternoon Oval Office event, saying the military had “shot out” the boat “moments ago.” He said his team had been briefed on the strike by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Minutes later, Rubio posted on X that the military carried out a “lethal strike” in the southern Caribbean Sea. He said the “drug vessel” had departed Venezuela and “was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization.”

Details on the strike, including who operated the vessel, remain sparse.

The strike came after the U.S. confirmed last month that the Navy would boost its presence near Venezuela, deploying three warships to the waters off the South American country as part of an anti-drug cartel mission. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called the ships an “extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.”

The Trump administration has accused Maduro’s government — a longtime U.S. foe — of working with drug cartels to traffic narcotics to the United States.