#international-waters

#international-waters

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday on his social media account X that the U.S. military had launched three extrajudicial attacks on four vessels sailing in the Pacific on Monday. Fourteen people were killed in the operation, and there was one survivor. Hegseth claimed, without providing evidence, that the vessels were transporting drugs and that their crew members, killed in the operation, belonged to designated terrorist organizations. He did not specify which organizations.

Late in the afternoon, in less than two hours, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took control of the flotilla's three main ships, carrying a total of 90 passengers: Alma, which contained the entire mission's leadership (including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, whose arrest the Israeli government subsequently shared images of), Sirius, which carried former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau, and Adara, which comprised approximately 25 people.

Mr. Secretary, what legal authority did the Pentagon invoke to strike that boat full of drug smugglers? she asked. We have the absolute authority and complete authority to conduct that, Hegseth replied. First of all, just the defense of the American people alone. A hundred thousand Americans were killed each year under the previous administration because of an open border and open drug traffic flow. That is an assault on the American people.

The Metals Company is reportedly collaborating with the Trump Administration to explore deep-sea mining in international waters, overriding the need for International Seabed Authority approval.