President Donald Trump pledged on Thursday that he will address Cuba once the crisis with Iran is resolved, using the metaphor of a "short stopover" to describe his plans for the island. He made these statements from the Oval Office in response to questions from the press.
"I like to do one thing at a time. We will focus on the Islamic Republic of Iran and, once that is resolved, we will take a brief pause before returning to it. We will take care of that," Trump told reporters, adding that "we need to get rid of the regime," which he described as "very tough, very unpleasant."
In response to a journalist's direct question about whether his sanctions aim to hasten the collapse of the regime, Trump denied it: "No. We just want it to be a well-administered country that can feed its people. Look, it's a failed nation."
The leader pointed out that the Cuban regime is now in an unprecedented position of weakness due to the disruption of Venezuelan support: "They had oil coming in. They had money coming in from Venezuela. But now they have nothing." Trump described the relationship between the two dictatorships as that of "bodyguard," referring to the decades-long agreement in which Venezuela provided subsidized oil in exchange for Cuban security and intelligence personnel.
That dependence was broken after the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, which halted the shipments of approximately 70,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude oil to Cuba and triggered an unprecedented energy crisis on the island, with blackouts lasting up to 24 hours and record generation deficits exceeding 2,100 MW.
Trump also devoted part of his statements to the Cuban-American community, asserting that 95% of Cubans voted for him. "They are incredible people. They are hardworking and entrepreneurial. Some of the richest people in Miami are Cuban," he said. He promised to "take good care of them," allow them to return to their homeland, and enable them to invest in Cuba if they wish to do so.
The statements come at a time of maximum pressure from Washington on Havana. On May 1, Trump signed Executive Order 14404, which expands sanctions against Cuba and introduces secondary sanctions against third parties that engage with blocked Cuban entities. Since January 2026, the administration has imposed more than 240 sanctions against the regime.
This Friday, June 5, is the deadline set by Washington for foreign companies to sever their ties with GAESA, the military conglomerate that controls the Cuban economy, under the threat of secondary sanctions.
On May 28, Axios revealed that the Trump administration is preparing for a possible collapse of the regime in the summer of 2026 and that Southern Command conducted simulation exercises in anticipation of disturbances on the island, although officials dismissed the likelihood of an imminent invasion, stating that "everything is on the table."
Trump concluded his remarks on Cuba with a statement that summarizes his stance: "We are going to take care of Cuba. And you know what? They are asking us to. The people are asking us."
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