Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday defended recent criticism from United States allies over the Trump administration’s strikes against alleged drug boats in international waters.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told reporters Tuesday that he believes the attacks against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific are in violation of international law.

The United States has conducted 19 military strikes on alleged drug boats it believes are attempting to smuggle illicit drugs into America. The strikes have killed at least 76 people so far.

“I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine what international law is,” Rubio, who is also National Security Advisor, told reporters. “They certainly don’t get to determine how the United States defends its national security.

“The United States is under attack from organized criminal narco-terrorists in our hemisphere, and the president is responding in the defense of our country,” Rubio insisted. “I do find it interesting that all these countries want us to send and supply, for example, nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to defend Europe. But when the United States positions aircraft carriers in our hemisphere, where we live, somehow, that’s a problem.”

Rubio said the reason that other U.S. military assets are near Venezuela and the Caribbean is to gather intelligence.

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