Overview
- President Donald Trump said U.S. forces hit a suspected drug boat in international waters, killing three, and released video purporting to show the strike.
- Dominican anti-drug officials confirmed a coordinated operation roughly 80 nautical miles south of Beata Island and reported recovering about 1,000 kilograms of cocaine.
- The latest deaths raise the tally from recent U.S. attacks on suspected smuggling vessels in the region to 17, while the Pentagon has withheld timing, locations and the formal legal basis.
- Venezuela condemned the operations as a not-declared war, staged military drills and civilian weapons training, and Nicolás Maduro signaled openness to talks in a letter to Trump.
- UN human-rights experts criticized the lethal tactics as potentially unlawful and urged accountability under international and maritime law.