The United States has struck another suspected narcotics boat traveling on international waters, this time in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Two known narco-terrorists were killed in the operation on Tuesday night, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The Trump administration's seven previous strikes all targeted vessels in the Caribbean.
The secretary also shared a brief video to social media showing the targeted operation.
The vessel was carrying narcotics and was known by U.S. intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, Hegseth said. It was traveling along a known drug-trafficking transit route.
No U.S. forces were harmed in the strike.
"Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere," the secretary said. "Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness—only justice."
But Congress has expressed concerns over Trump’s authorizations of the strikes. Lawmakers have demanded transparency and questioned the lack of evidence to justify them.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, has pushed for a House hearing on the deadly strikes.
“They have failed to demonstrate the legality of these strikes, provide transparency on the process used, or even a list of cartels that have been designated as terrorist organizations. We have also yet to see any evidence to support the President’s unilateral determinations that these vessels or their activities posed imminent threats to the United States of America that warranted military force rather than law enforcement-led interdiction.”
The United States carried out its first strike on a drug-carrying vessel on Sept. 2. According to the administration, the boat departed from Venezuela and was operated by Tren de Aragua. Eleven people were killed in the strike.
The president warned that the United States stands ready to carry out military strikes against cartels who come into the U.S. by land.
“We will hit them VERY HARD when they come in by land! They haven't experienced that yet but we're totally prepared to do that,” Trump said.