Donald Trump deploys world’s biggest warship as war fears soar – not Russia | World | News
The US is deploying the world’s biggest warship to the Caribbean as the Donald Trump administration is accused of “fabricating war”. The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier is approaching Venezuela as the Pentagon ramps up a mission targeting alleged drug smuggling boats in the region.
The 100,000-tonne ship, which can carry up to 90 aircraft, is currently in the Mediterranean along with three of the five destroyers in its strike group. It’s not clear how long it will take the strike group to arrive in the waters off South America, although reports suggest it could be a week. The Gerald R Ford is America’s largest ever warship and is billed by the US Navy as “the most capable, adaptable, and lethal combat platform in the world”.
The arrival of the 334-metre vessel will represent a significant increase in American firepower in the region.
It will add to the eight warships and nuclear-powered submarine already there.
The announcement of the deployment on Friday came after more US strikes against boats it accuses of carrying drugs.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro said Donald Trump’s administration is “fabricating a new eternal war”.
In a national broadcast on Friday night, he said: “They promised they would never again get involved in a war and they are fabricating a war that we will avoid.
“They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one.
“Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves.”
The US President has accused Mr Maudro, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organised crime gang Tren de Aragua.
Mr Maduro denies the allegation.
He is also widely accused of stealing Venezuela’s election last year, with the US among the several nations that do not recognise him as the country’s legitimate leader.
Tren de Aragua, which traces its roots to a Venezuelan prison, is not known for having a big role in global drug trafficking but for its involvement in contract killings, extortion and human smuggling.
It has been proscribed as a terrorist group by Washington since February.
US forces have launched 10 strikes on boats off the Venezuelan coast, allegedly for their role in trafficking drugs into the US. At least 43 people were killed in those attacks.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed the most recent strike in international waters targeted a boat “involved in illicit narcotics smuggling” which was “transiting along a known narco-trafficking route”.
He said on X all six “narco-terrorists” on board the vessel, which he said was carrying drugs, were killed.
Several lawmakers and human rights groups continue to question the legality of the strikes.
Mr Trump this month declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and said the US was in an “armed conflict” with them, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration after 9/11.
The Pentagon said the USS Gerald R Ford will “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere”.
It said the ship and its strike group will deploy to the US Southern Command area of responsibility which includes the Caribbean Sea.
