MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump says Cuba will “fall pretty soon,” but says Iran comes first

Trump said Cuba “is gonna fall pretty soon” and added that Cubans “want to make a deal so badly”

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Cuba is going to “fall pretty soon,” while making clear that his immediate priority remains the campaign against Iran, in remarks that widened the White House’s confrontational language toward both the Middle East and Latin America. Trump made the comments in a phone conversation with CNN anchor Dana Bash.

In that exchange, Trump said Cuba “is gonna fall pretty soon” and added that Cubans “want to make a deal so badly,” before saying he would put Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge of that file after dealing with Iran.

The remarks came hours after Trump further hardened his stance on Iran in a Truth Social post, writing that there would be “no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” and saying that once that happened and “GREAT & ACCEPTABLE” leadership was chosen, the United States and its allies would work to rebuild the country.

The Cuba reference was not accompanied by any concrete announcement on sanctions, diplomacy or other measures. What was clear in his wording was the intention to rely on Rubio — a central Republican voice on Cuba policy and a Cuban American politician — for any more direct handling of the island once pressure over Iran eases.

Trump made the comments during a White House event with Inter Miami, where he again folded foreign-policy messaging into a broader narrative of strength and control. In that sense, the Cuba remarks appeared less like a formal policy rollout than a political warning about where Washington’s pressure could move next.

So far, neither the White House nor the State Department had issued a specific Cuba initiative to accompany the president’s comments. That leaves the practical meaning of Trump’s prediction about the island’s imminent “fall” unclear. What can be firmly established for now is the sequence he laid out: Iran first, Cuba afterward.