U.S. President Donald Trump told CNN correspondent Dana Bash that his administration believes the communist government in Cuba could soon collapse, suggesting Washington is close to achieving a long-sought regime change against the island’s leadership that has ruled since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro, later continued by Raúl Castro and currently headed by President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Speaking while highlighting recent American military operations abroad, Trump linked the issue to the broader geopolitical situation following the U.S.–Israeli aerial campaign against Iran, which began roughly a week earlier and reportedly killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, forcing Tehran to begin searching for a new leader amid escalating tensions across the Middle East.
Trump said Cuba is “going to fall pretty soon” and claimed Havana is eager to negotiate with Washington, adding that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who fled before Castro’s rise to power, could be assigned to handle negotiations once the administration concludes its current focus on the conflict involving Iran.
The remarks come as Washington has intensified pressure on Havana through economic measures, including a January 2026 executive order imposing tariffs on imports from countries supplying oil to Cuba and maritime actions described by Trump as a “blockade” targeting fuel shipments, policies that have reportedly worsened fuel shortages, blackouts, and disruptions to commercial flights on the island.
U.S. policy toward Cuba has historically included decades of attempts to undermine the government—ranging from the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion during the John F. Kennedy administration to the long-running U.S. trade embargo imposed in 1960—with diplomatic relations briefly restored under President Barack Obama in 2015 before Trump reinstated stricter sanctions and travel restrictions during his first term starting in 2017.
