Donald Trump is claiming Cuba needs his help after adding it ‘next’ on his list

Reports are emerging that Cuba is next on Donald Trump’s agenda, after the capture of Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, at the start of the year.

The US President, 79, has been preoccupied with the US-Iran conflict in recent months, which began at the end of February after he joined with Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Tehran.

Now, despite talks turning rocky recently with Trump slamming Iran’s latest terms as ‘totally unacceptable’ and a ‘piece of garbage,’ the countries’ month-long ceasefire has been mostly held up.

And according to Sky News, the signs are pointing towards the Republican leader moving on to Cuba as his ‘next’ country of attention.

Following his capture, Maduro, along with his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were taken into federal custody in New York City. They are currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

There, Trump charged Maduro with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices - all of which Maduro denies and has pleaded not guilty.

Earlier this month, Trump said the US would be taking over Cuba 'almost immediately' (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

After the shock capture, Trump then endorsed Delcy Rodriguez to run Venezuela instead. The President also took control of the country's oil business and set up an oil blockade of Cuba.

Sky reports that this is an indication that Cuba is now on Trump’s list of countries he intends to ‘deal with’.

He wrote on Truth Social today (12 May): “No Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba, which is a failed country and only heading in one direction - down! Cuba is asking for help, and we are going to talk!!! In the meantime, I’m off to China! President DJT.”

It comes after he told reporters in March: "I do believe I’ll have the honour of taking Cuba. That would be good… I think I can do anything I want with it."

While speaking about the Iran war, as reported by Reuters, he also eerily warned: "I built this great military - I said you'll never have to use it, but sometimes you'll have to use it. And Cuba is next, by the way."

The oil blockade is already having detrimental effects, as Venezuela would previously provide cheap fuel to Cuba, but Trump’s orders put a stop to that, although Mexico says it was a ‘sovereign decision’.

So far this year, one single Russian oil tanker has reached the country, and since Cuba hasn’t diversified its power supplies, this makes the Caribbean island particularly reliant on oil.

Fuel shortages are wreaking havoc in Cuba, disrupting transportation and daily life across the island (Anadolu/Getty Images)

This has resulted in continuous blackouts and government food stores being emptied, which many people rely on, as well as disrupting the country's water systems, hospitals, and transportation, particularly in Havana.

On top of this, Rubbish is piling up on the streets because there's not enough fuel for the bin trucks to do the rounds and collect it.

At the start of the month, as reported by the BBC, Trump said that the US would be ‘taking over’ Cuba almost immediately.

He said: "On the way back from Iran, we'll have one of our big - maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier - the biggest in the world, we'll have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they'll say, 'Thank you very much. We give up'."

Last week, he imposed fresh sanctions, which Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, described as ‘collective punishment’ of the nation’s people.

He wrote on X: “We firmly reject the recent unilateral coercive measures adopted by the #UnitedStates government.”