'Highly provocative': Venezuelan military aircraft flew near US Navy vessel, DOD says

The Pentagon said two Venezuelan military aircraft flew near a U.S. Navy vessel on Thursday in international waters in a "highly provocative move."

In a statement posted on the social media platform X on Thursday night, the Defense Department wrote the move "was designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations."

CBS News reported earlier on Thursday that two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighters flew over the USS Jason Dunham in what U.S. officials believed was a show of force.

The move came after President Donald Trump announced earlier this week he had ordered U.S. military forces to strike a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that he said was carrying suspected Tren de Aragua drug smugglers, killing 11 people.

The statement from the Pentagon on Thursday went on to say: "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."

The Navy recently deployed eight ships to the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.