Trump just threatened to start another war

US President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a rally at Florida Gulf Coast University's Alico Arena ahead of the midterm elections, in Fort Myers, Florida, US, October 23, 2026. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

On Friday, while speaking at a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, President Donald Trump threatened to launch a new war "on our way back from Iran." In Trump's estimation, what the voters want right now is another war -- this time with Cuba. What's more, he appeared to momentarily struggle to remember the name of the government he's currently fighting.

"We have the greatest military equipment in the world. You saw that in Venezuela and you see now in...the national," Trump paused for a moment, then seemed to tell himself to "think of it," before exclaiming, "The Islamic Republic of Iran will tell you that we have the best equipment."

A comment from someone in the audience sent him on a new topic. "He wants to know what about Cuba," said Trump. "Give me a break. Don't worry -- we'll take Cuba on our way back from Iran," he said, making a serpentine motion with his hand. After repeating the motion, he assured the crowd, "We'll do a little stopover. Actually, what we're gonna do with Cuba is we're going to come back from Iran, those beautiful ships will pass Cuba, we'll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast, they'll raise up their hands, and then we're gonna send [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio in to finish up the thing."

Rubio -- the son of Cuban immigrants -- has long had the island nation in his crosshairs. “All roads have been leading to Cuba for [Rubio],” the Guardian was told by a longtime Rubio acquaintance. “He has wanted this for a long time and now he finally has the authority [to reach that goal].” The White House has been open about its designs on Cuba over the course of Trump's second term, particularly after the rapid success of his incursion into Venezuela, seemingly bolstered by the ease of capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. While the administration levied an oil blockade against Cuba -- reportedly causing widespread harm to the Cuban people -- talk of a military venture regarding the island has largely faded into the background as Trump's wildly unpopular war with Iran has dragged on.

Americans have been outraged by the rising prices caused by the war, largely driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and rising fuel prices that resulted. Trump offered his thoughts on that in Fort Myers as well, claiming, "Oil prices will soon plummet and oil prices are coming down very substantially. They're coming down much faster. You know, when I did this, we hit the all-time high." Oil prices are not, in fact, "coming down very substantially." According to the Wall Street Journal, after hitting a five-month high on Thursday, oil prices continued to rise to another high on Friday "as the market remains on edge about the possibility of the Middle East conflict escalating with renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities and further attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure."

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