Following his praise for the success of recent military operations in the Caribbean that claimed dozens of lives, President Donald Trump indicated on Wednesday that he is considering land strikes in Venezuela or other locations. These potential actions, he suggested, would further target alleged shipments of illegal drugs. When questioned by TIME reporters in the Oval Office about the feasibility of ground strikes, Trump stated, “We are certainly looking at land now because we’ve got the sea under control.”

The Trump administration maintains it is engaged in an armed conflict with drug trafficking organizations. Since early September, the U.S. military has conducted several documented attacks against boats in the Caribbean. On Tuesday, Trump shared a video on his Truth Social account, claiming it depicted a “lethal kinetic strike” by U.S. Southern Command, which reportedly killed six men and destroyed a vessel carrying narcotics just off the Venezuelan coast. Legal experts have characterized such strikes as illegal, asserting they would only be permissible within an armed conflict posing a direct threat to the U.S.

Proceeding with air strikes in Venezuela or any other nation not formally at war with the United States would represent another significant escalation of American military power in the Western Hemisphere by Trump, building on his prior decision to destroy boats suspected of transporting drugs to the U.S. While the U.S. Coast Guard already possesses the legal authority to intercept and board ships believed to be carrying narcotics, when asked by TIME on Wednesday why he did not rely on the Coast Guard for these operations, Trump responded, “because we’ve been doing that for thirty years and it’s been totally ineffective. They have faster boats. Some of these boats are, seriously, I mean they’re world-class speed boats, but they’re not faster than missiles.”

Trump asserted that these lethal military interventions have reduced the volume of drug smuggling reaching the U.S. via maritime routes. He stated, “Right now would have, I would say, none coming in through the seas. In fact, I don’t know about the fishing industry, if you want to go fishing, but a lot of people aren’t deciding to go even go fishing. We’ve almost totally stopped it by sea. Now we’ll stop it by land.”