President Donald Trump confirmed the U.S. military destroyed a drug submarine that was moving toward the United States carrying fentanyl and other illegal drugs.
Trump previously mentioned a U.S. strike on an alleged “drug-carrying submarine” in the Caribbean during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, though Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to go into specifics.
Trump’s announcement on Saturday affirmed that earlier statement, including unclassified footage of the strike.
“It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route. U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics. There were four known narcoterrorists on board the vessel,” the president posted on Truth Social.
Of those four on the vessel, two were killed, while the others will be returned to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia, respectively. No U.S. forces were harmed in the strike, Trump said.
“At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore,” he added. “Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea.”
The strike on the submarine is the latest effort from Trump to crack down on drug cartels and the surging of illegal drugs into the U.S.
SOUTHCOM COMMANDER WHO OVERSAW DRUG BOAT STRIKES RESIGNS
Previous U.S. military actions as part of that mission have included multiple strikes on smaller alleged drug vessels operating off the coast of Venezuela. Trump has also floated the possibility of land strikes in that country, and recently authorized CIA operations there as well.
In response, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has mobilized his country’s military, police, and a civilian militia.
