Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strike, ordered by President Trump, hit a vessel in international waters in the eastern Pacific that U.S. intelligence assessed was carrying narcotics.
- A 22‑second video released by Hegseth shows the boat exploding; officials have not provided corroborating evidence or identified the people killed.
- The operation is the 14th publicly acknowledged strike since early September, with administration figures putting the total killed at at least 61 after multiple attacks earlier this week.
- Lawmakers reported Pentagon officials could not positively identify most of the dead and said military lawyers were pulled from a House briefing, deepening bipartisan oversight concerns.
- The U.S. has surged forces to the region, including the USS Gerald R. Ford and F‑35s, as the administration frames the effort as an 'armed conflict' with designated cartels, drawing U.N. and legal criticism and talk of possible escalation beyond the maritime campaign.