Trump says he made up his mind on Venezuela action

“I can’t tell you what it would be, but I sort of did,” Trump responded when asked if he had decided on next steps. “We’ve made a lot of progress with Venezuela in terms of stopping drugs from pouring in.”

Trump said US efforts to curb narcotics trafficking were showing results, but pointed to challenges involving neighboring countries.

“We have a Mexico problem. We have a Colombia problem,” he said. “We're doing very well. Drugs coming into our country are greatly slowed, as you can imagine.”

During the last two months, the US military has carried out deadly attacks on at least 21 vessels it claims were transporting drugs from South America to the US, without providing evidence that they were involved in smuggling, resulting in a reported 80 deaths.

Venezuela has mobilized regular military units and civilian militias across the country in response to the strikes.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that the US would embark on a new mission, "Operation Southern Spear," to remove "narco-terrorists from our hemisphere."

"President (Donald) Trump ordered action — and the Department of War is delivering," Hegseth wrote on the US social media company X.

Media reports said Thursday that Trump was presented with options for military operations in Venezuela, including land strikes, by his senior military officials during a meeting at the White House.

Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine and senior officials "briefed the president on military options for the coming days," said the report.