WASHINGTON, Sept 16, (AP): US President Donald Trump said the US military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel, and hinted that the military targeting of cartels could be further expanded. "The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the US,” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the strike.

"These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital US. Interests.” The strike was carried out nearly two weeks after another military strike on what the Trump administration said was a drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela that killed 11. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office later on Monday, Trump said he had been shown footage of the latest strike by Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Asked what proof the US has that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump replied, "We have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean - big bags of cocaine and and fentanyl all over the place.” Trump also suggested that U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug smugglers at sea could be expanded to land. He said the US military is seeing fewer vessels in the Caribbean since carrying out the first strike early this month.

But he said the cartels are still smuggling drugs by land. "We’re telling the cartels right now we’re going to be stopping them, too,” Trump said. "When they come by land we’re going to be stopping them the same way we stopped the boats. ... But maybe by talking about it a little bit, it won’t happen. If it doesn’t happen that’s good.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later took to X to warn cartels the US would "track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere - at the times and places of our choosing,” echoing muscular language used by past administrations during the Global War on Terror. The White House also posted a short unclassified video clip on social media of the strike.

The Trump administration has justified the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, have questioned the legality of Trump's action. They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.