U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said the United States is “looking into” whether Cuba is stockpiling Iranian drones and suggested that Washington could take action if that’s the case.
“If they do have that, and they might very well have that … we’ll take care of it in short order,” Trump told reporters. “We’re not going to allow that to happen. So, it could be that they’re storing some. We’re looking into it now. It could be so, and it maybe isn’t.”
Foreign Policy has not been able to independently verify whether military drones are present in Cuba, and the White House referred us to Trump’s remarks when contacted for more information. The Cuban Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
National security and Latin America experts told FP that it’s probable that Cuba has such drones, but they also emphasized that it’s extraordinarily unlikely that Havana is planning on taking offensive actions against the United States. The experts also believe that the recent alarm raised over drones in Cuba is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to establish a pretext for U.S. military action against the island as it works toward the goal of collapsing the government in Havana.
