The United Kingdom says it is severing intelligence communication with the U.S. over the Trump administration’s continued lethal strikes on suspected drug boats in international waters, a source exclusively told CNN, in a report published Tuesday.
The decision adds to the growing legal questions about the president’s green-lighting of these attacks and whether they violate international law. Historically, the U.K., which has several operations in the Caribbean, per CNN, would share information regarding suspected drug cartel boats and share the information with “Joint Interagency Task Force South, a task force stationed in Florida that includes representatives from a number of partner nations and works to reduce the illicit drug trade.”
The U.K. now believes sharing intel would be collaborating with “extrajudicial killing.”
The Trump administration has argued that the country is in “armed conflict” with narco-traffickers who transfer drugs to the U.S. that have the potential to kill many. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has even compared the drug cartels to Al Qaeda in military strikes.
U.S. continued strikes over the weekend
Hegseth said the U.S. military conducted two more airstrikes on Sunday against narco-traffickers in international waters, furthering the Trump administration’s war on drugs and its controversial motives.
In his X post, Hegseth said the vessels were run by “Designated Terrorist Organizations,” but did not identify the groups by name.
“These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route in the Eastern Pacific,” he continued.
None of the three men aboard both ships survived the strike, according to Hegseth. “Under President Trump, we are protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people,” he said.
Since the Trump administration began this “armed conflict” back in September, the death toll has been rising closer and closer to 100, with some experts arguing that there is nothing constitutional about Trump’s actions.
Geoffrey Corn, the chair of Criminal Law and director of the Center for Military Law and Policy at Texas Tech, previously told The New York Times that Trump’s actions were an “abuse” of power.
“This is not stretching the envelope,” he said. “This is shredding it. This is tearing it apart,” arguing that attacking civilians — even if they are suspected criminals — is an illegal use of military force.
Still, the White House remains firm in its actions, posting on social media the following:
“BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!"