Dmitri Drobnitsky
Advocates of a hardline policy toward Iran have now identified what they see as a new Iranian threat—this time in Cuba.
Speaking at a conference organized by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), the organization’s chairman and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush claimed that Iranian combat drones are now present on the island.
Bush said in part:
“Iran remains a persistent threat to the shared security interests of our country, and especially to Israel. And now we see that this is not just about Israel and the United States, but about the entire Persian Gulf region. I also want to point out that, according to press reports, there are 300 [Iranian drones] in Cuba… These drones can operate in swarms and overwhelm air defense systems, as we have seen in the Middle East. I think it is important to recognize that Iran has consistently worked with Cuba and Venezuela—before Maduro left the government—to create instability not only in Cuba but throughout the region.”
UANI is a neoconservative nonprofit organization founded in 2008 by former U.S. ambassadors Richard Holbrooke and Dennis Ross together with former CIA Director James Woolsey.
Jeb Bush became chairman of its board following the death of former Senator Joe Lieberman. The organization’s board also includes a number of prominent foreign policy hawks, among them John Bolton, Walter Russell Mead, and former German intelligence chief August Hanning.
Like many members of UANI’s leadership, Bush has long advocated not only a confrontational policy toward Iran but also a tougher approach to Havana. The two issues now appear to have merged into a single narrative: one that can be used to justify both continued confrontation with Iran and the prospect of military action against Cuba.
Whether Iranian drones are actually deployed in Cuba remains an open question. But if they are, any U.S. military operation against the island would be unlikely to resemble a quick or easy campaign. Unless, of course—as some have argued in the case of Venezuela—Washington’s most effective weapon once again proves to be not military force, but the U.S. dollar.
