The US military struck a vessel accused of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, killing one person and leaving two survivors. The attack raises the total number of people killed in such boat strikes to at least 208 since the Trump administration began targeting alleged traffickers in early September 2025, framing the campaign as an "armed conflict" with Latin American cartels. Critics and legal scholars continue to challenge both the legality and effectiveness of the strikes, noting that the fentanyl driving many US overdose deaths is predominantly trafficked overland from Mexico rather than by sea, and the military has provided little evidence that vessels targeted were actually carrying drugs.