F-35 stealth fighter jets reported to be joining US naval operation against drug cartels seen as designed to pressure Venezuela\u2019s President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n
Published On 6 Sep 20256 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump had ordered the deployment of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Puerto Rico amid a report he is weighing options for strikes targeting drug cartels operating inside Venezuela<\/a>, according to news organisations.<\/p>\n Sources in the US told news agencies on Friday that 10 of the advanced fighter jets are being sent to an airfield in Puerto Rico as part of operations against Latin American drug cartels designated \u201cnarco-terrorist\u201d organisations by Washington.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n American broadcaster CNN, citing multiple sources, reported on Friday that the Trump administration is considering attacks on drug trafficking groups inside Venezuela, which would mark a dramatic escalation in already surging tensions<\/a> between Washington and Caracas.<\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s President Nicolas Maduro<\/a> called on Friday for the US to \u201cabandon its plan of violent regime change in Venezuela and in all of Latin America\u201d.<\/p>\n The US should \u201crespect sovereignty, the right to peace, to independence,\u201d Maduro said.<\/p>\n \u201cI respect Trump. None of the differences we\u2019ve had can lead to a military conflict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cVenezuela has always been willing to converse, to dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n Maduro has mobilised Venezuela\u2019s military<\/a>, which numbers about 340,000 soldiers, amid weeks of US threats, and reservists and militia members, which he claimed exceed eight million.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Venezuela were attacked, it would immediately enter a period of armed struggle,\u201d Maduro told reporters earlier this week.<\/p>\n Trump said on Friday that the US was \u201cnot talking\u201d about regime change in Venezuela.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we are talking about the fact that you had an election which was a very strange election, to put it mildly,\u201d Trump said, referring to Maduro\u2019s return to office in January following claims of vote irregularities in the country\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n Trump: \u2018They\u2019ll be shot down\u2019<\/p>\n The reported deployment of F-35 warplanes comes on top of a US naval build-up in the southern Caribbean, where American warships and a large number of Marines, as well as a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, have been deployed just outside Venezuelan territorial waters.<\/p>\n On Thursday, the US Department of Defense accused Venezuela of carrying out a \u201chighly provocative\u201d move by sending two F-16 fighter planes to fly near the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham.<\/p>\n The Dunham is one of at least seven US warships deployed to the Caribbean, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines.<\/p>\n Trump later warned Venezuela that the US military had authorisation to shoot down the jets if ship commanders believe they pose a threat to their vessels, saying: \u201cIf they do put us in a dangerous position, they\u2019ll be shot down.\u201d<\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s Communications Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the reported F-35s deployment or US claims that Venezuelan fighter jets flew over a US warship.<\/p>\n