The Pentagon is quietly laying the planning groundwork for a potential U.S. military operation in Cuba, even as the Iran war grinds on, according to recent reports.
Two sources familiar with the matter told USA Today on Wednesday that contingency plans are being developed in case President Donald Trump orders an intervention on the island nation. Trump has not announced plans to invade Cuba, but has floated the idea.
Sources also told Zeteo earlier this week that the Pentagon was given a directive straight from the White House to prepare for possible military action in the Caribbean.
A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the matter and instead referred The Independent to U.S. Southern Command, the body responsible for military operations in Latin America. A spokesperson for Southern Command told The Independent that he didn’t “know anything about” plans involving Cuba.
The spokesperson highlighted a March congressional testimony by General Francis Donovan, the head of Southern Command, who denied the U.S. was actively rehearsing or planning for a takeover of Cuba.
Trump, who has ordered military operations in multiple nations during his second term — including Iran, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nigeria and Somalia — has frequently and openly mused about seizing control of the communist-run island.
Last month, he told reporters he believes he will have “the honor of taking Cuba,” adding he “can do anything I want with it.”
On Monday, the 79-year-old president said, “We may stop by Cuba after we’re finished with this,” referring to the Iran war, which negotiators are now attempting to resolve before the clock runs out on a two-week ceasefire.
Beyond his fiery rhetoric, Trump has also implemented aggressive policies towards Cuba — which has been a U.S. adversary since the 1959 revolution.
He’s slapped steep tariffs on the island nation and threatened to impose duties on goods from countries that export oil to Cuba. The U.S. has also seized multiple oil tankers bound for the country, exacerbating its energy crisis.
For his part, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has frequently denounced the Trump administration’s hostile rhetoric and tactics.
“Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation. No one tells us what to do,” he wrote on X in January, adding that his government was “ready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood.”
This weekend, during his first interview on American television, Diaz-Canel told NBC News that Trump’s aggression towards Cuba is unjustified — and that a conflict would be costly.
“If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die,” he said.
A large majority of Americans, 64 percent, disapprove of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, according to a CNN survey released earlier this month. Just 36 percent said they approve.
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