Trump says Cuba “will fall soon,” signals focus on Iran first

US President Donald Trump told CNN that Cuba “is going to fall pretty soon,” signaling his administration’s continued interest in the island nation while emphasizing that Iran remains the current priority.

In a phone interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Trump said:

“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon, by the way, unrelated, but Cuba is gonna fall too. They want to make a deal so badly. They want to make a deal, and so I’m going to put Marco [Rubio] over there and we’ll see how that works out. We’re really focused on this one right now. We’ve got plenty of time, but Cuba’s ready — after 50 years.”

Trump further reflected on his long-standing attention to the country, stating:

“I’ve been watching it for 50 years, and it’s fallen right into my lap because of me, it’s fallen, but it’s nevertheless fallen right into the lap. And we’re doing very well.”

A day earlier, at the White House, Trump suggested that the return of American Cubans to their homeland is only a “question of time,” indicating that Cuba may become a post-Iran focus for his administration.

“He’s doing some job, and your next one is going to be, we want to do that special Cuba,” Trump said Thursday, referring to his Secretary of State. “He’s waiting. But he says, ‘Let’s get this one finished first.’ We could do them all at the same time, but bad things happen. If you watch countries over the years, you do them all too fast, bad things happen. We’re not going to let anything bad happen to this country.”

By Vafa Guliyeva