Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Says U.S. Won’t Rule Out Military Action in Cuba

The Trump administration is not ruling out military intervention in Cuba, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday, as Washington continues to increase economic pressure on the island’s communist government.

Hegseth’s comments come as Cuba faces a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, with widespread power outages and severe fuel shortages following increased U.S. pressure on the island. The Trump administration has sought to restrict Cuba’s access to oil while imposing additional economic sanctions and tariffs in an effort to pressure Havana.

“All options are on the table, to include military options,” Hegseth told reporters during a visit to Panama, where he participated in a meeting of the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition.

Hegseth also warned Cuban authorities to pay attention to Trump’s willingness to assert U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere, saying Cuba’s military would be no match for the United States.

The comments mark another escalation in the Trump administration’s rhetoric toward Havana. In June, Trump told Axios that a U.S. military operation in Cuba was “possible” and said his position remained “flexible.” He also said the administration had developed plans for a potential operation in the event of a collapse of the Cuban government.

Trump has previously compared a potential operation in Cuba with the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture and removal of President Nicolás Maduro in January.

“The difference is that Venezuela has oil, Cuba doesn’t. Cuba has good properties and a beautiful coast,” Trump said in June, adding that Cuban authorities “want to talk very badly.”

Plans for Cuba remain unclear. In another July interview with Fox News, Trump warned that “many things are going to happen in Cuba” over the next two months, while suggesting the island would not face the same fate as Venezuela.

The administration has not announced any specific policy or military action to accompany the remarks. For now, the comments have done what similar statements have done repeatedly over the past year: fuel speculation in both Washington and Havana about what the U.S. might do next without providing a clear answer.

Hegseth’s latest comments came during a broader push by the Trump administration to expand U.S. military cooperation in Latin America. During his visit to Panama, he announced that Colombia had authorized joint military operations with the United States against groups designated as terrorist organizations.