‘25,000 Americans Would Die’: Trump Says After US Strikes ‘Drug-Carrying Submarine’

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that American forces destroyed a “very large drug-carrying submarine” in the Caribbean that was heading toward the United States, claiming the strike prevented the deaths of at least 25,000 Americans.

The operation, announced a day earlier, is part of Washington’s ongoing military campaign to block narcotics shipments from Latin America. The White House also released an unclassified video of the strike on X.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said U.S. intelligence confirmed the vessel was carrying “mostly fentanyl and other illegal narcotics.” He said four “known narcoterrorists” were on board — two of whom were killed in the strike.

“It was my great honor to destroy a very large drug-carrying submarine that was navigating toward the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking route,” Trump wrote. “U.S. intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly fentanyl and other illegal narcotics. There were four known narcoterrorists on board the vessel. Two of the terrorists were killed.”

Trump added that if the submarine had reached U.S. shores, “at least 25,000 Americans would die.”

He said the two surviving suspects, citizens of Ecuador and Colombia, were being returned to their home countries for detention and prosecution. “No U.S. forces were harmed in this strike,” he noted. “Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea.”

According to AFP, at least six drug-smuggling vessels — mostly speedboats — have been targeted by U.S. strikes in the Caribbean since September, with several believed to have originated from Venezuela.