President Donald Trump said that Cuba's government will collapse "very soon" and claimed Havana is "very eager" to negotiate with Washington, as the island's economic crisis deepens under a de facto US fuel embargo.

"Cuba is going to fall very soon, by the way, completely unrelated, but Cuba is going to fall too. They are very eager to reach an agreement," Trump told CNN in a brief telephone interview on March 6 about US military operations in Iran, where joint American-Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei last weekend.

The president said he has tasked Secretary of State Marco Rubio with handling negotiations but indicated the administration's immediate focus remains on Iran. "We'll see how it goes. Right now we're very focused on this," Trump said. "We have plenty of time, but Cuba is ready, after 50 years. I've been observing it for 50 years."

A day earlier, Trump told Politico that Cuba's collapse would be "the icing on the cake" following January's operation that resulted in Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro's capture. He hailed what he described as "wonderful" collaboration with interim Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez, with whom Washington restored diplomatic relations on March 5 after decades of estrangement.

Trump has repeatedly invoked the Venezuela example when discussing Cuba, suggesting a similar arrangement could emerge in Havana. "It will work just like in Venezuela. We have a wonderful leader there," he told CNN, referring to Rodríguez. "She's doing a fantastic job, and that's how it will work."

"They want to make a deal so badly you have no idea," he added, noting that Rubio was waiting to complete the Iran operation first.

The comments represent Trump's most specific timeline yet for potential change in Cuba, though Havana has remained largely silent about discussions with Washington. Cuban diplomats initially denied talks were occurring, then characterised reports as "speculation".

Rubio, a Cuban American who has long sought to topple the communist regime, has been conducting backchannel discussions with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, as Washington explores options for political transition on the island. The engagement circumvents formal diplomatic contacts and demonstrates the administration's belief that the 94-year-old former leader wields more influence than President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Meanwhile, Cuba confronts its gravest crisis since the revolution, with the island's electricity system reaching a new nadir earlier this month. Blackouts affecting up to 70% of the country during peak hours have become routine, with residents in several provinces enduring outages of up to 20 hours daily.

Venezuela, which began supplying Cuba with heavily subsidised oil under Hugo Chávez in the early 2000s, ceased deliveries after the January 3 operation that ousted Maduro. Mexico, another key supplier, halted shipments after an executive order signed by Trump on January 29 labelled Cuba an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to US national security, threatening punitive tariffs against any country supplying oil to the communist-run island.

According to Bloomberg, energy consultancy Vortexa estimates the country's reserves could be depleted by late March, a timeline that could trigger social unrest severe enough to threaten the government. Cuba recorded zero oil imports in January, the first such month since 2015, and has received just one shipment so far in 2026, as per Kpler data.

Cuban aviation authorities informed international airlines last month that jet fuel would be unavailable at all airports until further notice, forcing carriers to suspend service and dealing a severe blow to the tourism sector that provided vital foreign exchange.

A massive US naval deployment in the Caribbean has reinforced the pressure campaign, successfully deterring multiple attempted fuel deliveries. However, a tanker widely believed to be carrying Russian fuel is currently heading towards Cuba, potentially setting up a geopolitical standoff between Moscow and Washington.

The human cost has been severe. Hospitals have postponed operations, water pumping stations have been disrupted, schools have cancelled classes and rubbish goes uncollected on Havana's streets as fuel-dependent municipal services grind to a halt.

This week, Díaz-Canel made an "urgent" call to transform the island's economic model. Cuba's official gazette published a decree-law opening the door to public-private partnerships for the first time in 67 years, a significant departure from revolutionary orthodoxy.

Trump last week suggested discussions could result in a "friendly takeover" of Cuba, though he did not elaborate on what form such an arrangement might take. "The Cuban government is talking to us. They have a lot of problems and no money," he said.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham predicted on March 1 that Cuba's government will collapse imminently. "Cuba's next. They're gonna fall. This communist dictatorship in Cuba? Their days are numbered," Graham told Fox News, drawing parallels with Venezuela.

Trump has ruled out military intervention in Cuba, at least publicly, instead pursuing what analysts describe as economic strangulation designed to force political change. The president has set regime change on the island as a goal by the end of 2026.

However, unlike Venezuela with its vast oil reserves and functioning opposition parties, Cuba offers Washington fewer levers for engineering political transformation, hampered by decades of economic mismanagement, crippling sanctions and a fractured civil society.

Shortly after his CNN interview, Trump posted on Truth Social that there would be "no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender", before adding: "MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!"