As President Donald Trump weighed taking further action in his war with Iran, Lindsey Graham appeared ready to start shopping for the sequel.
The South Carolina senator fired off an ominous message on Friday, suggesting Cuba could be next in line for “liberation.”
“I believe the liberation of the wonderful people of Cuba from the clutches of communism is close at hand,” Graham wrote on X.
“Cuba Libre.”
Just hours earlier, the president had convened a meeting with senior national security officials as he weighed whether to launch fresh strikes on Iran if negotiations collapsed.
Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles were among those in attendance, according to Axios.
Trump underscored the stakes by saying he would miss Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding this weekend to remain in Washington during an “important period of time.”
The president has grown increasingly frustrated with negotiations and, by Thursday night, was leaning toward military action unless a last-minute breakthrough emerged, several sources told Axios.
Graham, meanwhile, has spent weeks sounding like a man already looking for the next front.
In March, he appeared on Fox News wearing a “Free Cuba” hat and declared that the “liberation of Cuba is upon us. It’s just a matter of time.”
Trump has intensified pressure on Havana since returning to office. In January, he signed an executive order labeling Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security.
Trump later suggested the island nation was “ready to fall” and floated the possibility of what he described as a “friendly takeover.”
The heat on Havana rose again this week when the Justice Department charged former Cuban leader Raúl Castro with murder over the downing of two civilian aircraft in 1996.
“America will not tolerate a rogue state harboring hostile foreign military, intelligence, and terror operations just 90 miles from the American homeland,” Trump said Wednesday.
The move also drew comparisons to the administration’s playbook in Venezuela, where criminal charges against Nicolás Maduro ultimately preceded a dramatic U.S. operation that removed the longtime leader from power in January.
U.S. officials are now reportedly building an additional criminal case against Maduro that could saddle the ousted Venezuelan leader with even more charges.
Graham has repeatedly pointed to Venezuela as proof that the administration’s hardline approach works, citing Maduro’s removal as evidence to argue Cuba could be next.
Whether Graham is freelancing or reflecting broader thinking inside Trump’s orbit remains unclear. But his warnings about Cuba have become increasingly pointed.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
