Trump Weighs Military Action on Cuba

(MENAFN) U.S. President Donald Trump is giving serious consideration to military action against Cuba as his intensifying economic pressure campaign fails to extract the concessions Washington demands, according to a report published Monday.

Two anonymous sources briefed on internal deliberations told media that Trump and his top officials have grown increasingly exasperated by the Cuban leadership's steadfast refusal to comply with Washington's demands for reform.

"The mood has definitely changed," one source familiar with the ongoing discussions told media.

"The initial idea on Cuba was that the leadership was weak and that the combination of stepped-up sanctions enforcement, really an oil blockade, and clear U.S. military wins in Venezuela and Iran would scare the Cubans into making a deal. Now Iran has gone sideways, and the Cubans are proving much tougher than originally thought. So now military action is on the table in a way that it wasn't before," the source added.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel fired back Thursday, arguing that lifting Washington's energy "blockade" would be a far "simpler" path to alleviating the island's suffering than the $100 million aid package the U.S. has placed on the table as Cuba endures its most severe fuel crisis in decades.

"The damage could be alleviated in a much easier and more expedient way by lifting or easing the blockade, since it is well known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced," Diaz-Canel wrote on social media platform X.

He said Washington would not face ingratitude from Cubans, "however inconsistent and paradoxical the offer may seem to a people that the United States government itself punishes collectively in a systematic and ruthless manner."

Cuba announced Wednesday that it had completely exhausted its reserves of fuel oil and diesel, declaring its national power grid in a critical state with no backup reserves remaining. The announcement came a day after the U.S. State Department renewed its offer of $100 million in direct humanitarian aid to Cubans, simultaneously pressing for political reforms and rebuking Havana's communist government.

The fuel crisis traces directly to Trump's oil embargo imposed on January 29, which explicitly threatens U.S. tariffs against any country "that directly or indirectly sells or otherwise provides any oil to Cuba." Trump has repeatedly declared the island is "next" once military operations against Iran conclude, and has claimed the communist-led nation would fall "soon."

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