President Donald Trump’s administration has not offered a credible legal justification for US strikes targeting alleged drug smugglers, experts say, warning that he appears to be claiming an unlawful “license to kill.”

The US military has destroyed at least two boats carrying a combined 14 people who were allegedly transporting drugs across the Caribbean this month, with Trump posting videos of the strikes on his Truth Social platform.

Typical practice would be to interdict a boat, detain its crew and seize its cargo. But Trump has opted to use deadly force instead, saying the traffickers are “terrorists” who threaten US national security and interests and making clear the strikes are part of a continuing campaign.

Trump “seems to be asserting a license to kill outside the law, because

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