Graham warns Cuba’s ‘communist dictatorship’ that their 'days are numbered' after Iran strikes

WASHINGTON, DC: Republican Sen Lindsey Graham issued a stark warning Sunday, March 1, that Cuba is set to be the next target of US pressure, as he praised President Donald Trump for his foreign-policy moves following joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend.

Appearing on Fox News with host Trey Gowdy, Graham lauded Trump’s actions against Iran in Operation Epic Fury and urged the president to build on recent successes, including what the senator described as the removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power.

“All I can say is, President Trump, finish the job that President Reagan failed to do,” Graham said.

Lindsey Graham says Cuba next after Iran strikes

“Maduro? Everybody talked about him. 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’s comments about Cuba came against a backdrop of escalating US–Cuba tensions in recent weeks.

Days before the Iran strikes, Trump publicly floated the idea of a "friendly takeover" of Cuba, saying Havana was in dire economic trouble and suggesting that high-level discussions with Cuban officials were underway.

The Cuban government, however, denied that formal talks were happening and is confronting severe economic strain after US pressure and the loss of Venezuelan oil support.

Supporters like Graham have framed the president’s actions as decisive responses to authoritarian regimes and threats abroad.

However, critics of the Trump administration have warned that rhetoric about targeting Cuba could heighten instability in the Caribbean and Latin America, where decades of US–Cuba animosity have left deep political scars. 

Republican Lindsey Graham praises Trump's foreign policy

Graham said he had “never admired [Trump] more” than for the president’s handling of foreign policy. The South Carolina lawmaker repeatedly invoked strong language, calling Iran “the mother ship of international t*rrorism” and celebrating what he portrayed as dramatic setbacks dealt to Tehran’s leadership during the weekend attacks.

The strikes by US and Israeli forces on Iran have killed dozens of senior commanders, Iranian and international sources have been quoted as saying in various media reports.

It has prompted deep debates in Washington over the risk of wider regional spillover of conflict.