The Cuban diplomat José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez, director of the Center for International Policy Research (CIPI) in Havana, posted an ironic tweet on Sunday in which he attempted to mock the statements made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio regarding the Trump administration's policy towards Iran.
Cabañas cited a video shared by the U.S. State Department in which Rubio defended President Trump's actions against the Iranian nuclear program, and wrote: "Our solidarity with translators who have to convey these phrases into any other language."
The irony pointed to the repetitive and circular tone of Rubio's speech, in which the Secretary of State stated that Trump "identified a very real threat to this country that had existed for a long time and confronted it," and that “presidents are elected to do difficult things, sometimes complicated, but necessary.”
Rubio also noted in that video that for years there was a bipartisan consensus on the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran, although he admitted his doubts about whether that political agreement was still in effect: "Maybe it no longer is, but it once was."
The video from the State Department has accumulated over 425,000 views and nearly 24,730 reactions. In contrast, Cabañas' tweet garnered only 623 views and 21 "likes," illustrating the minimal real impact of the mockery.
The comment from the Cuban diplomat comes at a time of political pressure for Rubio. Republicans suffered a resounding defeat in the midterm elections on November 3, with Democrats regaining control of both chambers of Congress.
After that setback, outlets like Bloomberg and The Independent reported that Rubio was considering leaving the government to prepare a presidential run in 2028. The Secretary of State himself denied those rumors to The New York Times: “Working for President Trump until the end of his term has always been my plan”.
The speech that Cabañas targeted is part of a series of public appearances in which Rubio has sought to defend Operation Epic Fury —the military offensive by the United States and Israel against Iranian nuclear facilities that began on February 28, 2026— amid internal criticism within the administration itself.
The Cuban regime has a known pattern of exploiting internal political turmoil in Washington to project an image of superiority over the United States, and Rubio is a preferred target for Havana due to his Cuban-American background and hardline stance against the dictatorship.
It is not the first time that Cabañas has engaged in a media exchange with U.S. officials. In January of this year, when Trump made threats against Cuba, the diplomat responded with a phrase that circulated widely: “We do not eat fear”.
Rubio, who since September 2026 has been simultaneously holding the positions of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor —making him the first official to serve both roles since Henry Kissinger—, has insisted that Trump did what other presidents did not dare to do in the face of the Iranian nuclear threat.
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