Trump frames Cuba intervention as easier than Iran

President Trump said Thursday on "The Axios Show" that "it's possible" a potential Cuba invasion would resemble the swift capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.

Why it matters: Trump wants to project U.S. military power across the Western Hemisphere, fitting a second term defined by blunt force and expansionist ambition.

• Trump also acknowledged the Iran conflict is taking longer to resolve because Iran has a "more powerful" military and and is far away.
• He suggested Cuba could be easier to overpower.

What they're saying: When Axios' Marc Caputo asked whether a Cuba operation could unfold similarly to the Venezuela mission, Trump replied, "Possibly. It's possible."

• "These places are close by. Whereas if you look at Iran, that's a very long trip. You know, I flew to that area a few times and unrelated to this, but you're flying for 18 hours, you're flying for a long time. Venezuela is relatively close and Cuba is a hopscotch."
• Another key difference: resources. The president added: "Venezuela has oil. Cuba doesn't. Cuba has a nice property and they have nice shoreline."

Zoom in: Trump also said the Iran operation is "in a certain way, it's much bigger, much more powerful from the standpoint of weaponry than Venezuela."

• "But Venezuela is a very military state. You know, they have a lot of soldiers."
• "We went in less than ideal… And it actually lasted 48 minutes. And this is an army. You know, they have a lot of soldiers, a lot of good soldiers."

The big picture: Trump has floated a "friendly takeover" of Cuba and prefers a peaceful transition to a free island. But his administration has war-gamed military response plans in case the country's totalitarian regime collapses, potentially as early as this summer.

Zoom out: Cuba's military was once formidable, but it has declined substantially since losing Soviet support in the 1990s. Much of the force relies on Soviet-era hardware, munitions and armor.

• But U.S. intelligence has found the island acquired more than 300 military drones and discussed using them to attack the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels and possibly Key West, Fla. — which could become a pretext for U.S. military intervention.

What's next: Trump declined to offer a timeline for an operation in Cuba, saying it remains "flexible."

• But he said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, is "involved very much."

Go deeper: Trump's all-powerful "Great Man" theory