President Trump said Monday that Washington is investigating whether Iran has stored drones in Cuba, warning of swift action if confirmed, according to MercoPress. “If they do have that… we’ll take care of it in short order,” he told reporters, though he immediately called the claim unverified.
The accusation builds on a May report from Axios, which cited classified intelligence showing Cuba had acquired over 300 attack drones from Russia and Iran since 2023. U.S. officials described the finding as a potential pretext for military action, not evidence of an imminent threat. Havana denies aggressive intent.
What’s driving it: Trump laid out the underlying doctrine explicitly in May, telling a Florida audience, as reported by Newsweek, that once the U.S. “finishes” Iran, an aircraft carrier would steam toward Cuba on the way home and the government would surrender at the sight of it. Set against that timeline, Monday’s drone claim reads as the pretext that doctrine will be needed once the Iran campaign winds down.
The economic pressure is targeted rather than incidental. Monday’s sanctions hit Cuba’s Tourism Ministry, its largest revenue generator outside the military-run GAESA conglomerate, layered onto a fuel blockade already driving nationwide blackouts.
The legal track has sharpened too. In June, Washington sanctioned President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Colonel Alejandro Castro Espín, the son of Raúl Castro. Separately, the Justice Department indicted Raúl Castro himself, Cuba’s 94-year-old former president, on murder charges over the 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, according to CBS News. Castro Espín faces no such charge. Iran has not commented on the drone allegations.
