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A top US official has defended the military strike on a Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessel and has warned that more operations are likely as the United States escalates its campaign against foreign narco-terrorist organizations.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: If you missed it on Instagram, we recently posted a video showing the United States conducting a drone strike on a small vessel in the southern Caribbean Sea. According to US officials, the boat was crewed by members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year. The strike, authorized directly by President Trump, reportedly killed all 11 people on board and destroyed what the US claims was a large shipment of cocaine and fentanyl en route to American shores. By classifying Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization, the Pentagon now has the legal authority to use military force against its members. Venezuelan officials have condemned the strike, disputing the US narrative and suggesting the video footage may have been generatedusing artificial intelligence.

What’s going on now: While speaking during a press conference in Mexico City, Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed that the US will continue launching military strikes against drug traffickers, defending the recent attack on a Venezuelan vessel as both justified and necessary. He said, “The president of the United States is going to wage war on narco-terrorist organizations. It’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now — I don’t know.” Rubio continued, “We’re not going to sit back anymore and watch these people sail up and down the Caribbean like a cruise ship. It’s not going to happen anymore.”

He described the crew of the targeted boat as “an immediate threat to the United States,” and said President Trump acted within his legal authority to eliminate that threat.

This is a notable shift from previous stances on how the US dealt with drug traffickers using boats to move drugs into the country. Traditionally, the US relied on the Coast Guard’s “seize and arrest” approach to maritime drug interdiction.

Rubio has argued that these methods have not been enough of a deterrent, saying, “These drug cartels, what they do is they know they’re going to lose 2% of their cargo — they bake it into their economics. What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”