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Cuba is a "national security threat" to the US, and the possibility of a peaceful agreement is slim, said the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
His shocking remarks came a day after the US charged Cuba's former president Raúl Castro with murder over the shooting down of two civilian planes in 1996, which killed US nationals.
Rubio said Washington's preference was "a diplomatic solution" but warned that President Donald Trump had the right and obligation to protect the county against any threat.
Following the statement, Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, accused Rubio of "lies" and said the island had never posed a threat to the US.
Speaking to the press on Thursday, May 21, Rubio accused Cuba of being "one of the leading sponsors of terrorism in the entire region", which Rodríguez vehemently denied in a post on X.
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The Cuban foreign minister criticised Rubio for trying to "instigate a military aggression" and accused the US government of "ruthlessly and systematically" attacking his country.
Cuba is suffering from a fuel crisis worsened by an effective US oil blockade while they get pressurised by the Trump administration to make a deal.
The citizens of Cuba are experiencing extended blackouts and food shortages over the last few months.
Rubio said that the country had accepted a US offer of a $100 million in humanitarian aid.
Notably, Marco Rubio is the child of Cuban immigrants who left the island prior to the 1959 Cuban revolution.
He represented Miami, with its large Cuban exile community, in the Florida state legislature prior to becoming a US senator for the state.
