US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-United States Defence Ministers’ High Tea, as part of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ meeting, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (AP) The US military killed two men in a strike on a suspected drug vessel in international waters in the Eastern Pacific on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in a post on X.
Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO).
Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known… pic.twitter.com/OsQuHrYLMp
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 5, 2025
Hegseth’s post included an 18-second video clip of a boat in water that gets struck and explodes. The Defence Secretary added, “The strike was conducted in international waters in the Eastern Pacific. No US forces were harmed in the strike, and two male narco-terrorists — who were aboard the vessel — were killed.”
