A tricycle is decorated with U.S. and Cuban flags in Havana on Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Yamil Lage | AFP | Getty Images<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump<\/a> on Monday said he thinks he will have the “honor” of “taking Cuba<\/a>,” speaking during an executive order signing at the White House. <\/p>\n “Whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office with Vice President JD Vance standing behind him. “They’re a very weakened nation right now.”<\/p>\n The president’s comments on taking Cuba come as he carries out a war in Iran<\/a> that is stretching into its third week. Trump has encouraged the people of Iran to depose their government in that conflict, one of a litany of reasons<\/a> he has given for starting the war. <\/p>\n Trump recently suggested he will turn his sights to Cuba after the U.S. achieves its aims in Iran. He has threatened a “friendly takeover<\/a>” of the Caribbean nation, which has been an adversary of the U.S. for decades except for a brief thaw when Barack Obama was president.<\/p>\n The Cuba threats are the latest example of Trump’s more aggressive foreign policy during his second term in the White House. In addition to the war in Iran, Trump ordered a military operation that captured the Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and has made repeated overtures to acquire Greenland<\/a>, the Arctic island territory of Denmark. Denmark has repeatedly said Greenland is not for sale.<\/p>\n Read more CNBC politics coverage<\/p>\n The White House<\/a> has effectively blockaded Havana from Venezuelan oil after Maduro’s capture. That has caused an energy and economic crisis in the island country. <\/p>\n