Trump says US is investigating whether Iran stores drones in Cuba — MercoPress
Trump says US is investigating whether Iran stores drones in Cuba
If they do have that, and they might very well have that, we’ll take care of it in short order. We’re not going to allow that to happen, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that his government is investigating whether Iran is storing drones in Cuba and warned that Washington would act if their presence on the island is confirmed, though he framed the matter as a hypothesis that has not been verified.
If they do have that, and they might very well have that, we’ll take care of it in short order. We’re not going to allow that to happen, he told reporters in the Oval Office, when asked by a conservative outlet. The president immediately qualified the scope of his remarks: It could be that they’re storing some, we’re looking into it now. It could be so, and it could be it isn’t. No official report supporting the existence of such weaponry on Cuban territory has been made public.
The remarks echo a report published by the outlet Axios in May, which cited classified intelligence indicating that Cuba had acquired more than three hundred attack drones from Russia and Iran since 2023. That information has not been officially confirmed by Washington nor released in public documents. The Cuban government has neither admitted nor denied the acquisitions, though it has maintained that the country has the sovereign right to obtain the means necessary for its defense.
The episode comes amid intensifying US pressure on Havana. On the same Monday, the State Department sanctioned Cuba’s Tourism Ministry and nine other state entities, among them fuel import and foreign trade companies, on the grounds of curbing the island government’s revenue. In June, Washington had sanctioned President Miguel Díaz-Canel, several of his relatives and Colonel Alejandro Castro Espín, son of former leader Raúl Castro, while the Justice Department filed charges against the latter over the 1996 downing of two planes belonging to a Cuban exile organization, in which four people died.
Cuba is going through a severe economic and energy crisis, with frequent blackouts and fuel shortages, aggravated by the US embargo. Last month, the island’s government approved a package of 176 measures aimed at loosening its economic model and expanding the role of the private sector, which MercoPress reported at the time.
Trump’s comments came on the same day that the US military command launched a fresh wave of strikes on targets in Iran, amid the escalation that followed the collapse of the ceasefire with Tehran. The president said, however, that he had not ruled out reaching a negotiated solution.