Senator Lindsey Graham declared that Cuba‘s communist government was ‘next’ on President Donald Trump‘s radar after US and Israeli strikes battered Iran.
The South Carolina Republican warned Havana’s ‘days are numbered’ while praising Trump’s military campaign against Iran during an appearance on Fox News Monday.
Graham claimed the president was prepared to confront other adversarial regimes.
‘Maduro everybody talked about it – well Donald Trump’s got him in jail. Cuba’s next – they’re gonna fall. This communist dictatorship in Cuba? Their days are numbered,’ Graham said during the interview.
Graham framed the escalating confrontation with Iran as part of a broader crackdown on hostile regimes, calling Tehran ‘the mothership of international terrorism.’
‘The Iranian regime, the mothership of international terrorism is about to collapse. The captain of the ship, the Ayatollah is stone cold dead and all those people around him that helped him perpetuate this terrorism, they are on the run or dead. Finish the job!’ he said.
‘President Trump is going to finish the job that no other president was willing to do. He took Maduro down. President Trump I have admired you and I’ve never admired you more than I do right now,’ Graham said.
His remarks immediately drew attention because Cuba has long been a flashpoint in US foreign policy.
South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham said that ‘Cuba’s next – they’re gonna fall.’ Graham described Cuba as a ‘communist dictatorship’ and said, ‘Their days are numbered’
‘President Trump is going to finish the job that no other president was willing to do. He took Maduro down. President Trump I have admired you and I’ve never admired you more than I do right now,’ Graham said
A woman holds a sign and Cuban flags as supporters of Trump participate in a protest against Cuba’s government, in Miami, at the weekend
The island nation remains under a decades-old US trade embargo first imposed during the Cold War after Fidel Castro’s communist revolution.
In recent years, Cuba has faced severe economic turmoil, mass migration, and sporadic protests.
The Biden administration had eased some restrictions, while Trump in his previous term tightened sanctions and re-designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Graham’s comments suggest hardliners see Havana as a potential next front in what they describe as a campaign against authoritarian regimes aligned against US interests.
Graham framed the deaths of American service members as justification for pressing forward.
‘We have lost three Americans. God bless those Americans who sacrificed for their country. They died in a noble cause but the thing that could happen to a military unit is to ask them to sacrifice not finish the job,’ he said.
He argued Trump is doing what previous presidents would not.
‘President Trump finished the job that President Reagan failed to do. I am a big admirer of Ronald Reagan but I’m here to tell you that Donald Trump in my opinion is the gold standard for Republicans, maybe any president when it comes to foreign policy,’ Graham said.
Miguel Díaz-Canel is the President of Cuba. He has called for ‘urgent’ transformations to the country’s economic model to address a deepening humanitarian crisis and energy shortages
Cuba remains a longtime US adversary under a communist government, is designated by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism, and has historically aligned itself with regimes opposed to American interests
Graham credited President Trump with taking down Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, above
His remarks come as Israeli and US airstrikes have pounded Iran in what Trump said Monday could be a multiweek campaign.
Trump told reporters operations would likely last ‘four to five weeks’ but added he was prepared ‘to go far longer than that.’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned lawmakers that ‘The hardest hits are yet to come from the US military.’
The U.S. military has used B-2 stealth bombers to strike Iranian ballistic missile facilities and said on Monday it had taken out 11 Iranian warships. Trump has said the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been ‘largely destroyed.’
The conflict escalated sharply after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. Iranian officials have vowed retaliation.
Ali Larijani, a top Iranian security official, wrote on X: ‘We will not negotiate with the United States.’
Iran has struck back across the region, targeting Israel and Gulf states.
Saudi Arabia said the US Embassy in Riyadh came under drone attack, causing minor damage.
Trump said the military campaign against Iran could last ‘four to five weeks’ and potentially longer. Pictured, smoke plumes rise following missile strikes in Tehran on Sunday
An Iranian missile flies towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Tuesday
The Ras Tanura oil refinery, capable of processing over half a million barrels of crude oil a day, was also targeted but its defenses downed the drones..
Several ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil passes.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the US-Israeli campaign has killed at least 555 people. In Israel, 11 people have been killed by Iranian missile strikes.
The US military confirmed six American service members from the same logistics unit in Kuwait have died.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained how Iran was rebuilding underground nuclear facilities, though he offered no evidence.
‘We had to take the action now and we did,’ Netanyahu said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to define limits to the mission, telling reporters, ‘This is not Iraq. This is not endless.’
