Trump Shouldn’t Make Another Iran Mistake in Cuba

# Analysis The editorial's warning carries weight because regime-change interventions in strategically important countries have historically destabilized entire regions rather than achieving stated objectives. If Trump administration officials pursue aggressive action against Cuba—whether through military pressure, covert operations, or economic strangulation beyond current sanctions—it could trigger a refugee crisis across the Florida Strait, push Cuba further into alignment with China and Russia, and undermine U.S. credibility with Latin American allies already skeptical of unilateral American intervention. The Iran precedent is particularly instructive: decades of hostile U.S. policy hardened rather than weakened the Islamic Republic, strengthened hardline factions, and left Washington with fewer diplomatic off-ramps. Applied to Cuba, a similar escalatory cycle could entrench the Castro regime's grip on power, create humanitarian consequences that destabilize Florida politics, and hand Beijing and Moscow a hemispheric foothold—outcomes far worse than the status quo that Trump might inherit.