U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that U.S. forces “shot out” what he described as a boat carrying a cargo of drugs from Venezuela. Pending further details, this would be the most serious incident so far in the heightened tensions between the two countries since the Republican’s return to the White House. Trump accuses Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of being involved in drug trafficking to the United States.

“We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time. And we just…these came out of Venezuela, and coming out very heavily from Venezuela,” Trump said, offering no further details and only indicating that more information about the operation would be released “after this meeting is over.” Trump was speaking from the Oval Office, where he was participating in an event to announce the relocation of the Cyber Command from Colorado to Alabama.

“When you come out and when you leave the room, you’ll see that we just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat,” said the president, regarding the military operation in the Caribbean. He explained that he had received the information immediately before starting the Oval Office event, when the Chief of Staff “gave us a little bit of a briefing.”

The president’s statement comes as the United States maintains a flotilla of three Aegis missile destroyers, along with submarines and aircraft, deployed in international waters at the edge of Venezuelan waters, in what it describes as an operation to combat drug trafficking.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the operation in a social media message. “Today the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization,” wrote the U.S. diplomatic chief.

The three destroyers off Venezuelan waters are the USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham, and the USS Sampson. They are deployed as part of Donald Trump’s administration plans to confront threats from drug cartels in Latin America, according to the Pentagon. The presence of the destroyers in these waters is expected to last several months. The deployment includes P-8 reconnaissance aircraft, battleships, and attack submarines.

Trump blames Latin American cartels for the flow of fentanyl and other drugs that, according to him, destroy U.S. communities and cause increased violence in some cities across the country.

In early August, the Republican secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon authorizing the use of military force against Latin American drug cartels that the administration has declared terrorist organizations, The New York Times revealed.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt recently stated that the United States is willing to use “every element of American power” to stop the flow of drugs across its borders and “bring those responsible to justice.”

In response to the U.S. deployment, Venezuela has stationed troops at the border and has called on Venezuelans and militias to enlist to repel a potential foreign military operation. Maduro declared at a press conference with international media on Monday: “If Venezuela is attacked, we would declare armed struggle and a Republic in arms.”

“Venezuela is facing the greatest threat our continent has seen in 100 years,” said Maduro. “There are eight warships with 1,200 missiles, and a nuclear submarine aimed at Venezuela. It’s an extravagant, immoral, and bloody threat. They have sought to advance with maximum military pressure, and we have declared maximum preparedness in Venezuela.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition