Former President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy would "take on" Cuba on the way home from Iran during a speech in Florida [1].
These comments follow the signing of an executive order imposing new sanctions on individuals and entities linked to Cuba. The remarks highlight a shift in rhetoric regarding U.S. involvement in the Caribbean and the Middle East.
Trump spoke at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches event held at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Palm Beach, Florida [1, 2]. During the address, he said, “Cuba’s got problems” [1].
He suggested that military action against Cuba could occur as a secondary objective following operations in Iran. “On the way back from Iran, we’ll take on Cuba,” Trump said [2]. He further characterized the potential action as a swift process, saying, “We’ll be taking over Cuba almost immediately” [3].
The event was hosted by a non-profit organization and served as a platform for the former president to discuss foreign policy and the application of sanctions [1, 3]. The timing of the joke coincided with the official implementation of the aforementioned executive order targeting Cuban entities [3].
While the comments were presented as a joke, they occurred within the context of escalating economic pressure on the Cuban government. The former president did not provide specific operational details or a timeline for such an action beyond the hypothetical return from Iran [1, 2].
““On the way back from Iran, we’ll take on Cuba.””
The comments reflect a strategy of combining economic warfare through sanctions with aggressive rhetoric. By linking potential action in Cuba to a conflict in Iran, the former president suggests a broader, more assertive approach to U.S. foreign policy that targets multiple adversarial regimes simultaneously.
