President Donald Trump has named his next target after Iran.
The self-styled “Peace President” was on board Air Force One on Sunday, returning to the White House after a weekend at Mar-a-Lago, when he was asked about his administration’s talks with Cuba.
“Cuba’s a failed nation,” he said. “Cuba also wants to make a deal and I think we will pretty soon either make a deal or do whatever we have to do. We have a lot of great people that happen to vote for Trump, not that that matters, but we have a lot of great people from Cuba that were violently and viciously thrown out of the country and worse. The families were killed.”
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced the talks on Friday, saying his country had not received any fuel for three months, amid rolling blackouts and suspended air links due to a U.S. oil blockade.
Trump’s second term has already seen the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and “major combat operations” launched against Iran. Now he says things could happen “pretty quickly” with Cuba.
The U.S. has long offered a fast-track road to citizenship to Cubans fleeing the island’s regime in a bid to entice people away from communism. Those pathways have been severely reduced under Trump, amid his massive ICE deportation push.
“And so we’re talking to Cuba, but we’re going to do Iran before Cuba. And you know, people have been waiting 50 years to hear this story with Cuba. When I left Palm Beach today, there were thousands of people on the road, I’m sure you saw them. And they were from Cuba and from Venezuela, all friendly, all friendly, waving the flag and waving the American flag.
“They’ve been waiting 50 years for what’s happening with Cuba. So I think something will happen with Cuba pretty quickly.”
The United States has had a hostile relationship with Cuba since the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, with a strict trade embargo since the 1960s only briefly lifted under President Barack Obama.
The U.S. designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism in 2021, deepening the rift, while dozens of Cuban security personnel were killed during the U.S. strikes on Caracas that saw Maduro’s abduction in January.
The attack on Venezuela had huge ramifications for Cuba, which got around half of its oil, or around 35,000 barrels a day, from there, the BBC reports. Now, Venezuela’s oil apparatus is largely under the control of the U.S., severing its primary supply of fuel to the island.
Thousands are now thought to have died in Trump’s war, as Iran retaliates against neighboring countries and Israel launches ground operations in Lebanon. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed so far.
Announcing the talks with the U.S. on Friday via state media, Díaz-Canel said, “These talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences we have between the two nations.”
He said he hoped it would move the country “away from confrontation.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
