President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio take questions from the media in front of the White House.

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Earlier today CBS reported that Cuba had released 51 political prisoners as an outcome of pressure from the Trump administration upon the Cuban communist regime headed by Miguel Díaz Canel.  You can read the CBS report HERE.

Hours later, Communist Leader Miguel Díaz Canel, appears on state television in Cuba to announce that the Cuban government has entered direct negotiations with the government of the United States. [SOURCE]

“Whenever we have been in tense situations in relations with the United States, efforts appear to seek channels for dialogue.” The video on Cuba–US talks is now ready with English captions and translations attached right here.

— made by TranslateMom

Do these talks signal a real… pic.twitter.com/3Jd6my2fNk

— TranslateMom (@TranslateMom) March 13, 2026

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Early stages. So, for now we just watch what unfolds. However, if President Trump and Secretary Rubio manage to take down the dictatorial regimes of Venezuela, Iran and Cuba all in 2026… Jumpin’ ju-ju bones, that would be remarkable.

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President Trump left the Shield of Americas Summit in order to travel to Delaware to honor the six American soldiers killed at the start of Operation Epic Fury last week.  During the dignified transfer ceremony, President Trump will be meeting with the families of the fallen soldiers paying his respects.

Remaining at the summit, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, soon to be Special Envoy Noem, are scheduled to deliver remarks to the Shield of Americas Summit audience in Doral Florida.  The anticipated start time is 12:30pm ET with livestream links below:

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[Full Backstory Here] – President Trump secured the border, began repatriation efforts, targeted narcotraffickers, confronted narco-terrorists, targeted Mexican drug cartel leadership, leveraged the DOJ to indict regional actors, pushed China out of control in the Panama Canal, took out Nicholas Maduro, took control of Venezuela oil production – both for the security of the U.S. and benefit of the Venezuelan people, removed the discounted oil benefit for China and reasserted stability in the Western hemisphere.

Then, with all that in place, he turned toward Iran…. but, proactively planned for a ‘Shield of the Americas Summit’ before the Iran operation began and scheduled it for today while Operation Epic Fury continues.  WATCH:

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Additional video of the arrival ceremony below.

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The U.S. and Israel have been targeting deep underground missile sites within Iran, with strong success.  Iranian counterstrikes, missile & drone launches are down 80 to 90 percent according to Pentagon officials.

Additionally, the Israeli military has reported they dismantled an underground bunker system in Tehran used by regime leadership.  Originally the bunker was used by slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei underneath the leadership compound in central Tehran.  The bunker was targeted by 50 Israeli fighter jets and subsequently destroyed.

President Trump announced via Truth Social that he will not seek any terms with Iran other than unconditional surrender.

[SOURCE]

Meanwhile, in a somewhat predictable move, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced the U.S. will lift some sanctions on Russian oil exports in order to mitigate shortfalls.  India will be permitted to purchase additional Russian oil for use in their refineries.  The gasoline end products will then be sold into the market.

BESSENT: “President Trump’s energy agenda has resulted in oil and gas production reaching the highest levels ever recorded.

To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil. This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea.

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Sometimes you have to sip coffee slowly, while taking in the landscape.

About a month ago President Donald J Trump bombed Caracas, engaged the U.S. military with a direct firefight against Venezuela military & security forces, then snatched regime dictator Nicholas Maduro out of the country to face criminal charges in the United States.

Yesterday, Maduro’s replacement, President Delcy Rodriquez, stood on the steps to the Venezuela presidential office and publicly thanked Interior Secretary Doug Bergum for the kindness and support of President Donald Trump.

That reality represents a level of hemispheric ‘ultimate boss’ that boggles the mind.  But wait, it gets better. There’s video (prompted):

Before going further to current events, let us remind ourselves of a few details.

Sandwiched between the Venezuela Maduro operation and the recent Operation Epic Fury in Iran, approximately three weeks ago, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth convened a gathering in Washington of all the defense chiefs and senior military officials from 34 Western Hemisphere countries.

As most of you will remember, securing the national security of the entire Western Hemisphere, was outlined in the national defense strategy document [SEE HERE] released by President Trump. In addition to setting the priorities for the United States focus, the report details the Trump administration perspective on the world as broken down into specific regions.  The report is a brutally honest review of the current state of geopolitical benefits, risks and threats as they pertain to vital U.S. interests. The report outlines a critically renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere.

Now, back to Secretary Bergum’s visit.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio updates the media on current activity surrounding Operation Epic Fury.

Secretary Rubio begins with an update on what Americans in the region need to know. Rubio asks all Americans to record their status with the U.S. State Department. [State Dept. Website] To get the latest updates visit http://travel.state.gov/destination and enroll to receive alerts directly at http://step.state.gov. Americans who need consular help can reach us 24/7 by phone: +1-202-501-4444 (from abroad) and +1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S. and Canada).

Rubio then outlines the latest report on a drone hitting near a U.S. embassy in Dubai.  A drone struck a parking lot adjacent to a chancellery building and a fire broke out.  No Americans were hurt or injured. The consulate was already on minimal staffing.

Secretary Rubio then provides an update on the general disposition of the conflict effort.  Rubio notes the two most powerful air forces in the world are about to go even more severe in our combat activity deep inside Iran.

The traditional frame of reference for pundits surrounds “the escalation trap.”  Most of them are so stuck in their old Washington DC view of nation building they just cannot see another approach.

How do you avoid the trap? You don’t play the game.

You don’t try to control the outcome on the ground.  You change behavior, without being on the ground.

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Seeing how MSM and Trump opposition outlets are twisting and contorting the words and explanations from Secretary of State Marco Rubio it is worth posting the full transcript of his remarks from yesterday.

…” I’m not going to give away the details of our tactical efforts, but the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military.  The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.  Someone was screaming, “How long will it take?”  I don’t know how long it’ll take.  We have objectives.  We will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives, and we will achieve those objectives.”…

[Full Transcript] – SECRETARY RUBIO: “The United States conducted this operation with a very clear goal in mind. I haven’t gotten a chance to see a lot of reporting. I don’t understand what the confusion is. Let me explain it to you, and I’ll do it once again as clearly as possible. Perhaps you’ll report it that way.

The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran’s short-range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy, particularly to naval assets. That is what it is focused on doing right now and it’s doing quite successfully. I’ll leave it to the Pentagon and the Department of War to discuss the tactics behind that and the progress that’s being made. That is the clear objective of this mission.

The second question I’ve been asked is: Why now? Well, there’s two reasons why now. The first is it was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the United States or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders. It was automatic, and in fact it beared to be true because, in fact, the – within an hour of the initial attack on the leadership compound, the missile forces in the south and in the north for that matter had already been activated to launch. In fact, those had already been pre-positioned.

The third is the assessment that was made that if we stood and waited for that attack to come first before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties. And so the President made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed, and then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act.

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When pressed on how long the U.S. military would remain focused on Iran, secretary of State Marco Rubio said as long as it takes. “The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now,” he told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.

“How long will it take? I don’t know how long it will take,” Rubio said. “We have objectives. We will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives.”

“We would love for there to be an Iran that’s not governed by radical Shia clerics,” he said heading into a classified briefing on Capitol Hill. “That’s not the objective.” … “The objectives of this operation are to destroy their ballistic missile capability and make sure they can’t rebuild it and make sure that they can’t hide behind that to have a nuclear program,” he said. “That’s the objective of the mission.”  WATCH:

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According to the Cuban government: “It has been established that the neutralized speedboat, registered in Florida FL7726SH, was carrying 10 armed people, who, according to preliminary statements by the detainees, intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes.”

The Cuban military opened fire on a speedboat with 10 passengers.  According to established reports, 4 passengers were killed and six were wounded and captured by the Cuban coast guard forces.  Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the story as it surfaced yesterday (Associated Press). WATCH:

The Cuban government has released the names of those captured: “1-Amijail Sánchez González, 2-Leordan Enrique Cruz, Gómez, 3-Conrado Galindo Sariol, 4-José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, 5-Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, 6-Roberto Azcorra Consuegra.  Among the deceased was Michel Ortega Casanova. Work is being done on the identification of the other 3.”

Cuba claims the boat, registered out of Florida, was carrying ten people intended to conduct terrorism in Cuba.  Secretary Marco Rubio says the U.S. is conducting our own investigation to determine what took place.

In the press remarks above, Secretary Rubio also discussed the current status of U.S.-Iran negotiations.

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