WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said at a White House cabinet meeting on Tuesday that his administration will start strikes on land targeting drug traffickers in the Caribbean "very soon."

"We're going to start doing those strikes on land. You know, the land is much easier. It's much easier, and we know the routes they take," Trump said at the meeting. "We're going to start that very soon."

In his Thanksgiving remarks to US troops on Thursday night, Trump thanked the Air Force's 7th Bomb Wing for their work to "deter Venezuelan drug traffickers," while announcing, "It's about 85 percent stopped by sea ... and we'll be starting to stop them by land."

"Also, the land is easier, but that's going to start very soon," Trump spoke from his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Since Sept 2, the Pentagon has carried out at least 21 known strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 83 people aboard.

In the past months, Washington has deployed around a dozen warships, including the USS Gerald R. Ford, a major aircraft carrier, and about 15,000 troops to the Caribbean Sea, which shares a significant amount of coastline with Venezuela. The region has not seen such a massive US military presence for at least three decades.

Critics, including multiple lawmakers at the US Capitol, have questioned whether counternarcotics is indeed the only US motive and the legality of US military strikes in the Caribbean for months.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has denied having any ties to the drug trade and has accused the United States of "fabricating" a war aimed at regime change in his country.

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Also on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US military has "had a bit of a pause because it's hard to find boats to strike right now" in the Caribbean Sea.

Speaking at a White House cabinet meeting hosted by US President Donald Trump, Hegseth said drugs coming into the United States by sea are down 91 percent, without providing the source of the data or what the other 9 percent is.

"We've only just begun striking narco-boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they've been poisoning the American people," said Hegseth.

Hegseth has been in hot water since The Washington Post reported Friday that he issued a verbal order to "kill everybody" aboard boats suspected of transporting illegal drugs.

Later on Friday, Hegseth said on X that "the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland."

"Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both US and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict," he said, but didn't directly deny that he authorized the second strike.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday that Hegseth authorized a second strike aiming to kill survivors on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept 2.

Over the weekend, the Republican-led armed services committees in both the House and Senate announced they were opening bipartisan inquiries into the second US strike aiming to kill the survivors from the first boat strike.

Since early September, the Pentagon has carried out more than 20 known strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 80 people aboard.