U.S. Defense Officials Review Military Options for Cuba

Senior U.S. defense officials have reviewed early-stage military planning options for Cuba that include an Army-led air assault involving thousands of troops from the 101st Airborne Division. The briefings examined mission objectives, troop numbers, logistics and risks but do not indicate that President Trump or the Pentagon have decided to carry out an operation, according to multiple U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity.

Cuba's national power grid has collapsed for the third time in less than ten days, leaving roughly 10 million people without electricity. The repeated outages have highlighted the regime's accelerating loss of control over critical infrastructure.

Rubio has emphasized that the U.S. prefers a negotiated transition to a new government willing to pursue economic reforms. In a July 11 statement, Rubio said the regime and its corrupt elites continue to refuse reform and are perpetuating their total control.

The State Department has tightened financial pressure on Cuba's state-owned entities that funnel revenue to the regime and paramilitary forces.

Any operation against Cuba would face constraints because U.S. aircraft, intelligence assets and offensive capabilities have been shifted to the Gulf region where fighting has flared up again over the past week. Late last month the U.S. military held a concept-of-operations briefing to discuss early-stage planning options for select missions.

Officials said shifting focus toward Cuba is not likely at the moment given the restart of military operations against Iran last week. " — President Trump, July 2026 (CBS News) President Trump told reporters on Monday that his team is investigating whether Iran has stockpiled suicide drones in Cuba and suggested the administration is also looking into possible storage of Iranian missiles on the island.