Last week saw the U.S. military carry out a strike on a suspected drug smuggling submarine in the Caribbean, resulting in two individuals being killed and another two taken into custody.

However, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently made headlines when he confirmed that another vessel had been struck, this time in the Eastern Pacific. 

Two alleged narco-terrorists killed

According to Breitbart, Hegseth revealed details concerning the latest attack in a social media statement on Wednesday.

"Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific," Hegseth wrote.

"There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike," he explained.

"Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere," Hegseth warned.

Hegseth: "There will be no refuge or forgiveness—only justice"

"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," the Secretary of War said as he drew to a close.

Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.

The vessel was known by our intelligence to be… pic.twitter.com/BayDhUZ4Ac

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 22, 2025

In his post, Hegseth included video footage which showed a fast-moving boat which subsequently exploded into a massive fireball.

Meanwhile, Fox News reported that the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that his administration will begin targeting narcotraffickers on land.

Trump: "Something very serious is going to happen"

"We have the greatest military in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And you see a little bit of it there, one shot, every one dead center," Trump declared.

And the only way you can’t feel bad about it is you realize … that every time you see that happen, you're saving 25,000 American lives. Whenever I see that, I say to myself, I just saved 25,000 lives," the president stated.

Trump went on to pledge that drug smugglers "will be hit on land also" before insisting, "We have legal authority. We're allowed to do that."

"Something very serious is going to happen," he warned. "The equivalent of what's happening by sea. And we're going to Congress just to tell them what we're doing, just to keep them informed. But we have to do it for national security. We have to do it to save lives."