JAKARTA - United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said it had all the necessary authorization for US military attacks on ships off the coast of Venezuela suspected of carrying illegal drugs, in an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday.
The United States killed four people in an attack on the Caribbean Sea on Friday, at least the fourth attack in recent weeks.
"We have all the necessary authorizations. They are designated as foreign terrorist organizations," Defense Minister Hegseth said in an interview at Fox News' "The Sunday Briefing".
However, Defense Minister Hegseth did not provide further details about the authorization.
Washington cites the US Constitution, the rule of war, the designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, the right to defend itself and international law on illegal combatants as the legal basis for the attack.
Legal experts and some lawmakers argue that the use of military force in international waters against suspected criminals violates legal proceedings, violates law enforcement norms, has no clear legal basis based on US and international law, and is not justified by the designation of cartels as terrorists.
Defense Minister Hegseth and President Donald Trump have yet to provide evidence of claims by the ships targeted for carrying drugs.
President Trump told Congress last week he had designated the US to be in a "non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels, without providing new legal reasons.
Critics say the attacks on the ships were further efforts by President Trump to test the scope of his presidential authority. Legal experts question why the military carried out these attacks, instead of the US Coast Guard, the country's maritime legal entity.
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"If you are in our hemisphere, if you are in the Caribbean, if you are north of Venezuela and you want to smuggle drugs into the United States, you are the United States military's legitimate target," said Defense Minister Hegseth.
President Trump on Sunday said the US military deployment in the Caribbean had stopped drug trafficking from South America.
"No drugs enter the waters. And we will see what the second stage is," he told reporters at the White House.
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