Trump Says U.S. Warships Returning From Iran Could Stop Off Cuba

U.S. President Donald Trump said at a South Florida rally on Friday that American warships heading home from the Middle East could make a stop near Cuba, reviving a suggestion of intervention in the neighbouring island nation.

Trump first floated the idea earlier this year but had not raised it in recent months. He returned to it after someone in the crowd shouted a question about Cuba. The president was campaigning for candidates just days before midterm elections, in which voters have voiced worries about how the U.S. war on Iran has affected the cost of goods, from gas to groceries.

"We'll do a little stopover," Trump told the crowd. He described a plan in which ships coming back from Iran would pass Cuba and one would halt about 50 yards off the coast. "They'll raise up their hands," he said, adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would then be sent in "to finish up the deal."

Both Trump and Rubio have talked tough on Cuba. Trump has previously said the country would "be next" for intervention abroad once the Iran war winds down, an outcome he has long predicted but which has not yet come. In May, the two men raised the prospect of U.S. military action in Cuba, a threat that gained weight after the administration announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro, the island's former leader.

Trump has also told reporters in the Oval Office that past presidents had considered intervening in Cuba for decades and that "it looks like I'll be the one that does it." Rubio separately described Cuba as a national security threat for years because of its ties to U.S. adversaries. Rubio said the administration wants to settle differences peacefully but doubted a diplomatic solution could be reached with the current Cuban government.

Shortly after Trump spoke at the rally, Rubio posted on social media that "now is the time" to act on Cuba. The post was addressed to "those who seek to create positive change," urging them to "seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA."

Rubio had not spoken at length in public about Cuba for several weeks. His last remarks came in a Sept. 29 interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, in which he said Cuba "has already fallen" and lacks a functional economy. He made no mention of any CIA operation then, and said the U.S. would never allow Cuba to become a base of operation against American interests.

Rubio and other senior Trump aides have met Cuban officials in recent months to explore better relations, but the U.S. side left those talks unimpressed, and further sanctions on the Cuban government followed. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly last month, Trump said Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a longtime hard-liner on Cuba's socialist leadership, was "deep into negotiations with Cuba." Days later, Trump said he expected the two countries "will make a deal" and did not think the military would be needed.

Earlier this week, the two governments clashed at the UN as Washington again tried to rally opposition to an upcoming annual vote condemning the decades-long U.S. economic embargo on Havana. Cuba has been struggling with an economic and energy crisis since 2020. Its economy has shrunk, and its 10 million residents have endured blackouts, food shortages and inflation. The country has seen waves of protests, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans have left, many for the United States.