‘You’re going to find out’: Trump hints US might strike inside Venezuela, days after deploying F-35 jets to Puerto Rico

In an escalation in his war on drug cartels, the Trump administration might be considering striking inside Venezuela to target alleged drug traffickers. Before becoming the second sitting US president since Bill Clinton to attend the US Open on September 7, he was talking to reporters; a video clip of him went viral, where he was asked by a reporter, “Are you considering attacking the cartels inside of Venezuela?” Without directly denying or accepting it, he replied, “Well, you're going to find out.”




Trump had earlier threatened to shoot down Venezuelan jets if they threatened US naval ships in the most recent escalation of a conflict that has sparked fears of a military conflict in the Caribbean.

On Tuesday, the US killed 11 people in an airstrike on a Venezuelan speedboat it claimed was operated by “narco-terrorists” of the Tren de Aragua gang. On Thursday, US military officials said Venezuelan combat aircraft had twice flown close to US naval vessels in the southern Caribbean.

The Trump administration responded by sending ten F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico. He claimed on Friday that American ships would be "in a dangerous position" if the US attacked Venezuelan aircraft. Should it happen again, he said, Venezuela would be in “trouble,” as per the Sunday Times.

“Direct military action against Venezuela will be viewed as another war, which Trump has expressly stated he doesn't want,” an X user claiming to be a Trump supporter has replied.



Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro on Monday, September 1, warned during a rare press conference that the US is seeking a regime change in his country with a naval deployment in the Caribbean. He said, as Reuters quoted, "They are seeking a regime change through military threat." He continued, "Venezuela is confronting the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years."

"A situation like this has never been seen," Maduro added. Assuring the military's preparedness, he said Venezuela's military is "super prepared."

However, in recent times, President Trump has repeatedly claimed he deserves credit for ending six or seven wars during his first months in office, arguing that he should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.

"I've settled six wars, and a lot of people say seven because there's one that nobody knows about," he said in an August 19 interview, as quoted by CBS.

A White House official, in fact, provided a list of the seven conflicts the president is referencing: Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Thailand and Cambodia, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo.