Donald Trump offers strongest trace but concerning the subsequent nation he desires to invade

Assuming he ever gets himself untangled from the blundering war he started in Iran, Trump has his sights set on a close neighbour of the United States

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Donald Trump gave the strongest hint yet that he’s planning to invade Cuba after he’s “finished” with Iran.

He’s previously made offhand comments about “stopping by” Cuba on his way home from Iran. But in a speech to a conference of Turning Point USA, the group formerly lead by slain activist Charlie Kirk, he said change on the island would come “very soon”. After speaking about US operations in his blundering war in Iran, he turned to Cuba: “Very soon, this great strength will also bring about a day 70 years in waiting. It’s called A New Dawn for Cuba. We’re going to help them out in Cuba.” He added: “We have a lot of great Cuban Americans. Not too many people in this audience, I don’t think. But you go to Miami, we have people, Cuban Americans, people that were brutally treated, whose families were killed, brutalised, and now watch.”

Cuba’s economy and infrastructure have been in crisis as a result of a US energy blockade following its invasion of Venezuela – their main supplier of oil. The Trump administration has described its government as ineffective and abusive. In return for easing sanctions, US demands have included an end to political repression, a release of political prisoners and a liberalisation of the island’s ailing economy. American diplomats recently met with Cuban government officials in the island nation, marking a renewed push for talks even as US Trump has hinted at an invasion. Cuba’s leader said this week that his country is prepared to fight if that should happen.

A senior State Department official met with the grandson of retired Cuban leader Raúl Castro last week during the trip, according to a department official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The official did not say who from the US met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, whose grandfather is believed to play an influential role in the Cuban government despite not holding an official post. A second US official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was not part of the delegation that visited Havana. US officials have previously said Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a longtime Cuba hawk, met the younger Castro in the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis in February.

During last week’s extraordinary diplomatic push, the US delegation urged Cuba to make major changes to its economy and way of governing because it would not let the island nation become a national security threat in the region, the State Department official said. It marked the first US government flight to land in Cuba other than at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay since 2016.