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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US will "blow up" foreign criminal groups if necessary, perhaps in cooperation with other countries.
"Now they will help us find these people and blow them up, if that's what it takes," Rubio said during a visit to Ecuador.
He also announced that the US will designate two of Ecuador's largest criminal gangs, Los Lobos and Los Choneros, as foreign terrorist organizations.
The comments come days after US forces carried out an attack on a ship in the Caribbean Sea. The White House says that attack killed 11 drug traffickers, although it did not release their identities.
Asked whether smugglers coming from U.S. allies, such as Mexico and Ecuador, could face "unilateral execution" by U.S. forces, Rubio said "cooperative governments" would help identify smugglers.
"The president has said he wants to declare war on these groups because they have declared war on us for 30 years and no one has responded. But there is no need to do that in many cases with friendly governments, because friendly governments will help us," he said.
The Ecuadorian and Mexican governments have not said they will assist with military strikes.
Following Tuesday's attack on the ship in the southern Caribbean, President Donald Trump said the military operation targeted members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang as they transported illegal narcotics to the United States.
Legal experts told BBC Verify that the attack may have violated international human rights and maritime law.
Late Thursday, the defense department accused two Venezuelan military aircraft of flying near a U.S. ship in a “highly provocative act designed to interfere with our counter-narco-terrorism operations.” Venezuela has yet to respond to the claim.
Also on Thursday, Rubio announced that Washington will provide $13.5 million in security assistance and $6 million in drone technology to help Ecuador crack down on drug trafficking.
Violence in Ecuador has increased significantly in recent years, as criminal gangs fight for control of lucrative cocaine routes.
According to government data, about 70% of the world's cocaine transits through Ecuador from neighboring producing countries, such as Colombia and Peru, to markets in the US, Europe and Asia.
The designation of the two groups was desired by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who described his crackdown on criminal gangs as a "war."
In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, he said he would be "happy" if the US considered Los Lobos and Los Choneros as terrorist groups, because "that's what they really are."
He also said he wanted the American and European armies to join his fight.
Noboa is trying to change Ecuador's constitution to again allow foreign military bases in the country, after the last US base closed in 2009.
This designation means the US can target the assets and properties of anyone associated with the groups and share intelligence information with the Ecuadorian government without restrictions so that it can take "potentially lethal" action.
Growing cartel violence in Ecuador has also been a driver of migration from the South American country to the US.
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