Is Cuba Trump’s next target after Iran?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 March 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Trump has renewed his threat of a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, saying the island is in deep trouble and that the Cuban government is desperate to make a deal. In this episode, Justin and Anthony look at how seriously we should we be taking these threats, and look into the talks taking place between the US and Cuba.
Pressure on Cuba has been building since the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, a long-time ally of Cuba’s government. The Trump administration has effectively cut off oil supplies into Cuba by stopping shipments of Venezuelan oil, and threatening to impose tariffs on any country which supplies the island with oil.
With the prospect of a worsening humanitarian crisis, as Cuba deals with mass blackouts - its electricity grid is powered by oil - affecting all areas of Cuba’s economy and society including schools, hospitals, agriculture and tourism, will the country make a deal with the US? Who is involved in the talks, and how does Trump’s approach differ from other US presidents?
We speak to Peter Kornbluh, co-author of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana, who is also a senior analyst at the National Security Archive about the talks between the US and Cuba.
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
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This episode was made by Purvee Pattni, Mhairi MacKenzie, Grace Reeve and Rufus Gray. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Donald Trump threatened Venezuela, then he pulled the trigger. |
| 0:09.1 | He threatened Iran, then he pulled the trigger. |
| 0:11.7 | He has also threatened Cuba. |
| 0:14.2 | Is he going to pull the trigger? |
| 0:15.3 | On Saturday, he said this to Latin American leaders. |
| 0:18.7 | Many of you have come today, and they say, |
| 0:20.4 | I hope you can take care of Cuba because you've had |
| 0:22.1 | problems with Cuba, right? You mentioned, I was surprised, but four of you said, actually, |
| 0:29.6 | could you do us a favor? Take care of Cuba. I'll take care of it, okay. |
| 0:34.6 | What did he mean exactly? A few days later, he said this. |
| 0:37.2 | And it may be a friendly takeover, it may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn't matter, |
| 0:42.9 | because they're really in, they're down to, as they say, fumes. They have no energy, |
| 0:51.3 | they have no money. They're in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis. |
| 0:57.0 | So after Venezuela and Iran, could Cuba be next? And what would that involve? Welcome to |
| 1:03.6 | AmeriCast. Americaast from BBC News. You hear that sound? |
| 1:11.4 | Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. |
| 1:15.1 | We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. |
| 1:19.4 | This is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it. |
| 1:22.7 | This guy has Trump-arrangement syndrome. |
| 1:24.6 | I have four words for you. |
| 1:28.2 | Turn the volume up. |
... |
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