Nicolai Haugsted
Donald Trump reveals his next potential military target as Americans struggle with the costs of war.
Donald Trump is facing growing pressure over his foreign policy as the consequences of the war with Iran continue to weigh heavily on his administration.
The conflict has already damaged the Republican Party politically, contributed to rising energy prices and created tensions within the president’s own inner circle. Yet Trump appears unwilling to abandon his confrontational approach to international affairs.
With Democrats preparing to take control of Congress following their midterm victories, the president is now discussing the possibility of another American military intervention.
According to The Independent, Trump has openly acknowledged that he would consider using military force against Cuba before leaving the White House.
The remarks came just hours after he ordered Vice President JD Vance to abandon negotiations aimed at ending the war with Iran.
Trump sets his sights on Cuba
Speaking on The Hugh Hewitt Show, Trump suggested that removing Cuba’s current leadership remains one of his ambitions before his presidency ends.
“Well, I want to get Cuba done before I leave, yeah,” Trump said when asked whether he would consider military action to liberate the island.
The president also suggested that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be particularly enthusiastic about such an operation because of his family’s Cuban background.
“And we have a very good, talented guy for Cuba named Marco. Because Marco’s parents are from, Marco Rubio, his parents are from Cuba as you probably know. And he would love to do that.”
Trump described Cuba as a “failed” country and emphasized his popularity among Cuban-American voters in Florida.
“I would like to be able to do it,” he continued.
“I won the Cuban vote by 94% in Florida, and I think I’m more popular now than I was then. And frankly, I’d love to be able to do it for the people, for the Cubans that came and were treated really badly, and they came to America.”
The most revealing exchange came when Hewitt asked whether Trump would authorize a relatively short military operation.
The interviewer specifically suggested “a little bit of military force, a week campaign.”
Trump did not rule it out.
“I would be, I would certainly consider that, yes,” the president replied.
His comments stopped short of announcing any military plans, but they demonstrated that another intervention remains a possibility in his thinking.
Peace talks with Iran are suddenly abandoned
Trump’s comments about Cuba came amid a significant change in his administration’s approach to the ongoing conflict with Iran.
The war began on February 28, when American and Israeli forces launched military strikes against Iranian targets.
Since then, Washington has struggled to find a lasting resolution, despite repeated attempts to negotiate a ceasefire.
Vice President JD Vance had spent months leading American diplomatic efforts, including discussions about restarting negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
However, Trump abruptly changed his instructions on Thursday.
In a series of Truth Social posts, the president announced that Vance should stop pursuing an agreement with Tehran and instead concentrate on investigating alleged fraud in Democratic-controlled states and cities.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Trump wrote.
“Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”
The announcement effectively sidelined one of the administration’s most prominent diplomatic initiatives.
According to Axios, oil prices climbed and stock markets declined as investors reacted to the renewed uncertainty surrounding the conflict.
JD Vance is given a very different assignment
The decision represented a particularly sharp reversal for Vance.
Just days earlier, the vice president had reportedly been considering direct discussions with senior Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei.
According to The Wall Street Journal, those contacts were part of an effort to revive negotiations and potentially secure a ceasefire.
Instead, Vance has now been instructed to focus on allegations of domestic political corruption.
Trump’s announcement did not provide evidence supporting the fraud allegations or explain how the proposed investigations would be conducted.
The sudden change also follows public disagreements between the president and his vice president over the political consequences of the war.
Following the Republican Party’s midterm defeat, Vance argued that the conflict had played a decisive role in the election results.
“The reason we lost is the war,” he wrote on X last week.
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost.”
Trump, however, has defended his decision to launch the military campaign and insisted that he would not have handled the conflict differently.
The Iran war is not quite over
Despite Trump’s increasingly confident declarations about American military success, fighting has not completely stopped.
Earlier this week, the president told reporters that the war was “effectively over.”
He also indicated that Washington would postpone additional major strikes following requests from regional partners, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
However, the United States intends to maintain its naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important passage for global energy supplies.
Smaller military confrontations have also continued.
Iranian state media reported American strikes on Qeshm Island earlier this week following attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told G7 counterparts in Paris on Tuesday that Trump had chosen not to resume major military strikes or pursue a diplomatic settlement.
Instead, the administration would focus on isolating the Iranian government.
Rubio also rejected an existing Iranian ceasefire proposal, describing it as “outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic.”
The combination of continued military pressure and abandoned negotiations leaves considerable uncertainty about how the conflict will ultimately end.
