President Donald Trump said on Friday the US will take over Cuba “almost immediately,” suggesting a US aircraft carrier could be deployed offshore to force the island nation into submission.
“Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately,” Trump said at an event in Florida, claiming that “Cubans got problems.”
Trump indicated the move would follow the US-Israeli war on Iran, saying Washington would deploy a naval vessel on the return.
“On the way back from Iran, we’ll have one of our big, maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the biggest in the world, we’ll have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore,” he said.
He further suggested that the show of force alone would make Cuba surrender, as he claimed: “They’ll say ‘thank you very much. We give up,'” adding: “I like to finish a job”.
Trump on Friday signed an executive order imposing new sanctions on individuals and entities linked to Cuba, citing concerns over threats to US national security and foreign policy.
He repeatedly said that Cuba is “next” after the military operation against Iran and that the Caribbean island will fail “soon”.
Meanwhile, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Friday that Cuba “firmly” rejects the recent “unilateral coercive measures” adopted by the US.
“These actions demonstrate an intention to impose, once again, collective punishment on the Cuban people,” Rodriguez wrote on US social media company X.
His remarks came after Trump signed an executive order imposing new sanctions on individuals and entities linked to Cuba, citing concerns about threats to American national security and foreign policy. – AA