US eyes Iran fast boats with ‘kill’ tactics tested in Venezuela drug-boat strikes
Trump compared the approach to the 'quick and brutal' campaign against drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean
By Morgan Phillips Fox News
Published April 16, 2026 2:26pm EDT
The U.S. is preparing to take on Iran’s fast-attack boats using a playbook it already has tested in another theater — lethal strikes on small vessels tied to drug trafficking networks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
Since September 2025, U.S. forces have conducted dozens of deadly strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels, part of a broader military campaign targeting cartel-linked networks. The U.S. campaign against drug-trafficking boats offers a glimpse of how American forces handle small, fast-moving targets at sea.
Officials now suggest similar tactics could be used against Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump made that link explicit in a Truth Social post Monday, warning that any Iranian boats approaching the blockade would be "immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea … It is quick and brutal."
Since the campaign began, U.S. Southern Command has carried out dozens of strikes on vessels, killing more than 160 people and destroying dozens of boats. Those operations rely on surveillance, rapid targeting and precision strikes, capabilities that could also be used in the Gulf.
But in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, U.S. forces are targeting nonstate actors with limited ability to respond. In the Strait of Hormuz, they would be confronting Iran’s military — armed, organized, and operating in one of the most strategically sensitive waterways in the world.
Applying that approach in the Persian Gulf, against a state-backed military force, carries far higher risks.
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