The move marks an escalation of President Donald Trump's crackdown on drug cartels operating out of Latin America.

Acting Pentagon spokesperson Joel Valdez, asked by AFP about the agreement, said the Defense Department "won't speculate on future operations" or discuss operational security.

But Valdez stressed that Guatemala is part of a security alliance that Trump launched with 17 other leaders across the region, "reflecting a shared commitment to confront narco-terrorist networks and other security threats that destabilize our shared neighborhood."

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo agreed to the strikes with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a call last week, the Times reported, quoting two people familiar with the talks.

The Central American nation has formally requested "cooperation in operations led by Guatemalan security forces against drug trafficking organizations" in a letter to Hegseth, Arevalo's office told the paper.

The Times said that the United States and Guatemala had also agreed to other military action to target drug gangs, without giving further details.

Trump's administration began striking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific last September, insisting it is effectively at war with what it calls "narco-terrorists" operating out of Latin America.

But it has provided no definitive evidence that the boats it targets are involved in drug trafficking, prompting heated debate about the legality of the operations.

Trump launched the multinational cartel-fighting alliance at a summit in March with Latin American leaders, which includes one of his staunchest allies on the continent, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa.

The United States has previously teamed up with Ecuadoran forces to conduct joint strikes against cocaine-smuggling guerrillas in the South American nation.

International cartels, with help from local drug traffickers, traffic drugs and launder money in Guatemala and other Central American countries, fueling regional violence.

Ninety percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States passes through Central America and Mexico in trucks, aircraft, boats and submarines, according to US officials.

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