For decades, Cuba and the Islamic Republic of Iran have cultivated a red-green alliance rooted in authoritarianism, anti-Americanism, and support for terrorism. Now, as Havana faces a deepening economic crisis, Washington should support regime change in Cuba to reduce Tehran’s influence in the Western Hemisphere.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Iranian Marxists and Islamists received training in Cuba in guerrilla warfare, sabotage, and covert operations. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Tehran and Havana established strong economic and diplomatic ties. In October 2003, Cuba helped Iran jam U.S.-based satellite broadcasts into the Islamic Republic. Tehran compensated Havana with a €20 million annual credit line under Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, which later increased to €200 million under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Iranian Marxists and Islamists received training in Cuba in guerrilla warfare, sabotage, and covert operations.
Following the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran in January 2016 under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal, then-Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Havana and declared that a “new chapter” of economic cooperation had begun between the two regimes. Three years later, Zarif accused the U.S. government of conducting “economic terrorism” against Cuba and other anti-American regimes. In November 2020, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel held a virtual meeting with Zarif and defended Tehran’s right to use peaceful nuclear energy.
Zarif’s successor, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, met with Díaz-Canel in Havana in February 2023, where he condemned U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Four months later, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Cuba as part of a Latin American tour aimed at strengthening ties with governments hostile to Washington. In 2022, Cuba exported $11.9 million in vaccines, blood products, antisera, toxins, and antibiotics to Iran, while Iran exported $174,000 in industrial materials and textiles to Cuba.
The two regimes also have engaged in military cooperation. In April 2021, the Biden administration called on Cuba and Venezuela to deny the entry of two Iranian warships suspected of ferrying weapons to Caracas. Since 2023, the Communist regime has acquired over 300 military drones from Iran and Russia, and has discussed using them to attack the American base at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military ships, and Key West, Florida. Cuban intelligence officials also have studied Iranian military tactics to defend against U.S. military action.
The Communist regime also has fostered ties to the Islamic Republic’s terror proxies. In 2011, Israeli media reported via Italian news that Hezbollah established a base in Cuba to support operations in South America. The network reportedly consisted of 23 operatives selected by Talal Hamia, head of Hezbollah’s foreign operations unit, and operated on a $1.5 million budget.
Since 2023, the Communist regime has acquired over 300 military drones from Iran and Russia, and has discussed using them to attack the American base at Guantanamo Bay.
In July 2021, the head of Hezbollah’s Arab and International Relations, Ammar al Moussawi, met with Cuba’s ambassador at the Embassy of Cuba in Beirut, and expressed solidarity with the regime amid anti-regime protests. Eight months before October 7, 2023, Cuba’s ambassador to Lebanon met with a Hamas delegation and reaffirmed support for Palestinian “resistance” against Israel.
Now, following the loss of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. blockade on oil shipments to Cuba, and the indictment against former President Raúl Castro, the Trump administration should support regime change in Cuba to a government committed to removing Iranian influence in the country.
If Washington adopts a Venezuelan-style regime management for Cuba, it should demand that the remaining officials designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its affiliated proxy groups as terrorist organizations, cut diplomatic ties with Tehran, expel if not extradite Iranian officials, and shut down Iran’s embassy in Cuba. Officials also should terminate all bilateral economic agreements with Iran, hand over Iranian financial assets, share intelligence on Iranian and Hezbollah operations throughout Latin America, and relinquish any Iranian military equipment in its possession.
By supporting regime change in Havana, Washington will not only benefit the Cuban people but also eliminate the Islamic Republic’s influence in the Western Hemisphere.
