A video of a U.S. military strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean that killed two survivors of the initial attack shows “nothing remarkable,” the Republican who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday, and he would not oppose its public release if the Pentagon were to declassify it.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who backs President Donald Trump’s campaign against suspected drug smugglers, is partially aligning himself with Trump and top Democrats in favor of releasing the video of the Sept. 2 attack. It was the first in what has become a monthslong series of American strikes on vessels near Venezuela that the administration says were ferrying drugs. At least 87 people have been killed in 22 known strikes.
But Cotton, among the top lawmakers on national security committees who were briefed Thursday by the Navy admiral commanding those strikes, is splitting with Democrats over whether military personnel acted lawfully in carrying out a second strike to kill the two survivors. The nine others aboard the boat also were killed.
“I think it’s really important that this video be made public. It’s not lost on anyone, of course, that the interpretation of the video ... broke down precisely on party lines,” said Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He said he has spent “years looking at videos of lethal action taken, often in the terrorism context, and this video was profoundly shaking.”
When Trump was asked Wednesday whether he would release the video of that follow-on strike, he told reporters, “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have we’d certainly release. No problem." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Fox News interview Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California that officials were reviewing the video. “Whatever we were to decide to release, we'd have to be very responsible" about it.
“That boat was still a valid target,” Cotton said, arguing that releasing the video would prove that the two survivors of the initial strike remained a threat.
“It’s not gruesome. I didn’t find it distressing or disturbing,” he said, explaining why he does not have a problem with releasing all the footage. “It looks like any number of dozens of strikes we’ve seen on jeeps and pickup trucks in the Middle East over the years.” He added that “there's nothing remarkable on that video, in my opinion.”
The classified sessions on Capitol Hill came after The Washington Post reported that Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley had ordered a follow-on attack that killed those survivors, to comply with Hegseth’s demands. Bradley told lawmakers there was no “kill them all” order from Hegseth, but a video of the entire series of attacks left some lawmakers with serious questions. Legal experts have said killing survivors of a strike at sea could be a violation of the laws of military warfare.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Himes are among those who have seen the video and they disputed Cotton’s characterization.
“I have no doubt that these guys were involved in the running of drugs. … But in that instance, these guys were about to die,” Himes said.
Smith added: "It did not appear that these two survivors were in any position to continue the fight."
Himes said lawmakers are aware of the partisan divide.
Some legal experts have disputed that the United States is in an official armed conflict with Venezuela, raising questions about the legalities of using American military personnel for what would amount to law enforcement activities that require due process. Other experts have said that, regardless of the terms of engagement, international law does not allow further attacks on defenseless survivors of a previous attack. Specifically, Pentagon protocols say that firing upon the shipwrecked is illegal.
There have been questions and criticism of the mission raised by lawmakers from both parties on Capitol Hill, with inquiries ongoing.
Bradley told lawmakers in a closed session that he ordered the second attack on the wreckage of a boat that was carrying cocaine because it was believed that bales of the drug were still in the hull of the boat.
Cotton said Sunday that two final victims were “not in a shipwrecked state” or “floating helplessly in the water” but instead were “sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat.” Because they were “not incapacitated,” he said, “that boat, its cargo ... remained valid targets.”
Smith, who saw the same video, said, “The boat was clearly incapacitated. A tiny portion of it remained capsized, the bow of the boat. They had no communications device. Certainly, they were unarmed.”
Cotton was on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Smith was on ABC's “This Week” and Himes appeared on CBS' “Face the Nation.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks to reporters following a classified briefing for top congressional lawmakers overseeing national security as they investigate how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth handled a military strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat and its crew in the Caribbean near Venezuela Sept. 2, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked back over $100 as Iranian strikes hit ships in the regions waters and the ongoing American-Israeli war with Iran showed so signs of slowing.
Thursday’s major developments include Iranian attacks against commercial ships around the Strait of Hormuz and Iraq's port of Basra, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich Gulf region as global energy concerns mount. The U.S. campaign of airstrikes in Iran is now in its 13th day.
The Israeli military is also striking Iran and its militant ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, where more than 800,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.
Here's the latest:
Israel’s military said it was working to intercept a missile launch from Iran early on Thursday morning.
It was the third such announcement Thursday, as Israel also said it was targeting Tehran with strikes.
Other overnight missile launches from Iran sent Israelis hurrying to shelters in areas from the very southern tip of the country, to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, to the Galilee and the northern border with Lebanon, where sirens were also sounded to warn of drone and rocket attacks from Hezbollah.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building Thursday in the small Mideast nation, wounding two people.
A container ship off Dubai in the Persian Gulf came under attack Thursday, sparking a small fire, the British military said.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the attack happened just before dawn. It said an “unknown projectile” hit the vessel as it was some 65 kilometers (40 miles) off the coast of Dubai’s Jebel Ali port.
It added that the crew of the vessel were safe.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, topped $100 a barrel early Thursday, just days after it spiked near $120.
Oil prices shot more than 9% higher as supply concerns worsened with Iranian attacks on commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. benchmark crude oil jumped to about $95 a barrel.
Read more here.
An attack on Iraq’s Basra port early Thursday killed at least one person and forced authorities to halt operations at all the country’s oil terminals, officials said.
Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, made the announcement in a statement carried by the state-run Iraqi News Agency on Thursday. Al-Fartousi said the attack targeted ships in the ship-to-ship transfer are of the Basra port on the Persian Gulf. He said it remained unclear if the ship was targeted by a flying or seaborne drone or a missile.
Rescuers recovered one dead body and helped 38 others after the attack. He said commercial ports in Iraq remained open, though the oil terminals had been shut.
Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization has identified the two tankers as the Safesea Vishnu, flagged in the Marshall Islands, and the tanker Zefyros, flagged in Malta.
FILE - People gather in a rally to support Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the successor to his late father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, in Tehran, Iran, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
A mourner holds a poster depicting Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, right, the successor to his late father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, as supreme leader, during the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A French military plane carrying humanitarian aid to Lebanon is seen through buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, landing at Rafik Hariri International Airport, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A shepherd walks by as smoke rises into the sky from a nearby airbase following attacks early Thursday in Harir, Iraq, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)
A woman gathers belongings from her family's home after it was damaged by a projectile launched from Lebanon, in Haniel, central Israel, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Smoke and flames rise from buildings following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A person fills their vehicle at a gas station in Tallinn, Estonia, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
People take cover in an underground bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strike, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A man, left, carries the body of his son, Kassem Younis, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral procession in the southern village of Chehabiyeh, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
This image released by the Royal Thai Navy shows Thai cargo ship, Mayuree Naree, that was struck and set ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (Royal Thai Navy via AP)
Mourners attend the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and some civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Flames rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
