WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that he would turn to an unspecified project for Cuba, the Caribbean island already facing a US energy blockade, after the war against Iran.
"We want to fix, finish this one first -- but that will be just a question of time before you and a lot of unbelievable people are going to be going back to Cuba," Trump said at a White House reception.
Addressing US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Miami-born son of Cuban immigrants, Trump added: "You've been doing a fantastic job on a place called Cuba."
Washington has imposed an energy blockade on the communist-ruled nation that has seen its fuel stocks plunge, in the wake of the US capture of president Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela -- a key oil supplier to Cuba.
No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island and deepening a long-running economic crisis.
Many in Cuba fear it could be next on Trump's list of foreign interventions, especially after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran that killed the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Both Trump and Rubio have made no secret of their desire to bring about regime change in Havana.