WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has every authorization needed for US military strikes on vessels just off the coast of Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal drugs.
Hegseth was speaking in a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday. The United States killed four people in a strike in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, at least the fourth such attack in recent weeks.
"We have every authorization needed. These are designated as foreign terrorist organizations," Hegseth said in an interview on Fox News' "The Sunday Briefing."
He did not provide more details about the authorization.
Washington has cited the US Constitution, war powers, designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, the right to self-defense and international law on unlawful combatants as the legal basis for the strikes.
Legal experts and some lawmakers argue that using military force in international waters against alleged criminals bypasses due process, violates law enforcement norms, lacks a clear legal foundation under US and international law and is not justified by the cartels’ terrorist designation.
Hegseth and President Donald Trump have not provided evidence for claims that the targeted boats were carrying drugs. Trump told Congress last week that he had determined the US to be in "a non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels, without providing any new legal rationale.
Critics say the boat strikes are a further effort by Trump to test the scope of his presidential powers. Legal experts have questioned why the military is carrying out these attacks rather than the US Coast Guard, the country's maritime law agency.
"If you're in our hemisphere, if you're in the Caribbean, if you're north of Venezuela and you want to traffic drugs to the United States, you are a legitimate target of the United States military," Hegseth said.
Trump on Sunday said the US military buildup in the Caribbean had halted drug trafficking from South America.
"There's no drugs coming into the water. And we'll look at what phase two is," he told reporters at the White House.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday told his Venezuelan counterpart that the country condemns the US strikes and is concerned about the dangers of potential US escalation in the Caribbean.
US hit another boat off Venezuela coast: Trump
US forces hit another vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs off the coast of Venezuela on Saturday evening, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, adding that the US would also start looking at drug trafficking occurring on land.
Trump made the comment during a speech at Naval Station Norfolk, next to the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. It was not immediately clear if he was referencing a strike announced Friday by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
"In recent weeks, the Navy has supported our mission to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water ... we did another one last night. Now we just can't find any," Trump said.
"They're not coming in by sea anymore, so now we'll have to start looking about the land because they'll be forced to go by land."
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
