‘If they do put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down,’ President Donald Trump said on Sept. 5.
President Donald Trump warned that Venezuelan aircraft would be shot down after the Pentagon announced a U.S. warship encountered two Venezuelan fighter jets in international waters.
In a statement posted to X on Sept. 4, the Pentagon said two military aircraft flew close to a U.S. Navy vessel, declaring, “This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations.”
The Pentagon went on to warn that “the cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counter-narcotics and counter-terror operations carried out by the US military.” No further details on the event were given.
The president also chose not to get into specifics when he addressed the flyover during a press conference in the Oval Office on Sept. 5. However, he affirmed that if Venezuela did it again, U.S. military forces had his permission to shoot the planes down.
He turned to his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Daniel “Razin” Caine, and said, “I would say, general, if they do that, you have a choice of doing anything you want, okay? If they fly in a dangerous position, I would say that you or your captains can make the decision as to what they want to do.”
“If they do put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down,” Trump said.
That flyover followed U.S. military action that eliminated a boat from Venezuela that the president said was filled with bags of drugs bound for the United States and was occupied by 11 members of the Tren de Aragua terrorist organization.
Trump affirmed that the United States would continue to take similar actions if needed.
“When I see boats coming in, like loaded up the other day with all sorts of drugs—probably fentanyl, mostly, but all sorts of drugs—we’re going to take them out, and if people want to have fun going on the high seas or the low seas, they’re going to be in trouble,” he said.
By T.J. Muscaro
