Secretary of State Marco Rubio is warning that Cuba poses a far greater national security threat to the United States than many Americans realize, arguing the communist island has spent decades building sophisticated espionage and influence networks capable of penetrating the highest levels of the American government.

Speaking with Lara Trump on Fox News' My View Saturday, Rubio described Cuba as both an intelligence adversary and a hub for ideological influence throughout the Western Hemisphere.

"A failed state 90 miles from our shores that happens to be aligned with adversaries to the United States is a national security threat to our country," Rubio said.

The secretary's comments come days after the State Department released a 100-page report examining Cuba's influence operations. The report alleges Havana has cultivated networks inside the United States through espionage, activist organizations and academic institutions, while describing Cuba as the "capital of 21st-century communism."

Rubio argued that Cuba has achieved an outsized intelligence capability despite its relatively small size.

"They actually are an influence and espionage superpower," he said. "If you look at the history of espionage in the United States, Cuba is the only country that consistently has implanted and embedded spies in our system without even paying them."

He pointed to several high-profile espionage cases as evidence.

"We had… a U.S. ambassador, who ended up being a Cuban spy and was recently convicted," Rubio said. "We've had them penetrate the highest levels of Defense Intelligence Agency."

Rubio was referring to Manuel Rocha, the former American ambassador and longtime diplomat who pleaded guilty to acting as a covert agent for Cuba over several decades. Rocha was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after admitting he secretly worked on behalf of the Cuban government while serving in senior diplomatic positions.

The secretary also highlighted the case of Ana Belén Montes, the former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst convicted of passing classified information to Cuba for years.

Rubio described the Montes case as one of the "single biggest intelligence failures" in American history and potentially the most damaging penetration of the U.S. intelligence community ever uncovered.

Beyond traditional espionage, Rubio alleged Cuba has developed networks designed to influence American politics through organized activism.

He claimed demonstrations supporting Hamas, opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and backing Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro are connected through organizations linked to Cuba.

"There's nothing organic about it," Rubio said. "It is funded, it is organized and Cuba is a part of that network and in some cases a critical part of the network."

"And it's a network they will weaponize against us," he continued. "And they talk about it openly, about how they will use that network to pressure American policymakers."

Rubio also argued Cuba has played a central role in supporting left-wing movements across Latin America for decades.

"If you look all throughout Latin America, every communist left-wing insurgency that's destabilized governments across the region, every single one of them over the last 40, 50 years has found its support, its help, in many cases, its birth, from a Cuban influence operation," he said.

Rubio rejected suggestions that the threat should be minimized, arguing sympathy for Cuba's communist government has long existed within certain sectors of American society.

"I know there are plenty of people in American academia and, frankly, in American press that sympathize with the Cuban regime and have for a very long time," he said.

"Part of it is motivated by their anti-Americanism and part of it motivated by ideological affinity."

"But it doesn't mean we can ignore this threat," Rubio warned.

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President Donald Trump announced that he has called off a massive military strike against Iran after negotiators reached the "perimeters of a deal" that could end weeks of escalating hostilities and reopen one of the world's most critical shipping lanes.

The president said he agreed to halt the planned offensive after Iran and several Middle Eastern countries urged the United States to pause military action while negotiations continue.

Despite suspending the operation, Trump made clear the American military remains prepared to act if diplomacy collapses.

"The U.S.A. is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II," Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday evening.

"Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to."

According to Trump, the proposed agreement includes two major objectives: the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran's nuclear threat.

"This would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran's nuclear threat," Trump wrote.

"Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL."

Trump added that Israel supports the diplomatic effort.

"The Country of Israel joins me in this commitment. Get to work, everybody, and get it DONE."

The announcement marks a dramatic shift after days of increasingly forceful rhetoric from the White House.

Just one day earlier, Trump indicated the United States was preparing to intensify its military campaign against Iran.

"We will be hitting them very hard," Trump said during a televised press conference Friday at Camp David. "And you know at some point, they're going to say, 'We just can't take it anymore.'"

Earlier in the week, following an attempted Iranian missile attack on U.S. forces stationed in Jordan, Trump told Fox News the United States was prepared to "beat the f*cking sh*t" out of Iran.

Behind the scenes, however, reports suggested the president had grown increasingly skeptical that previous diplomatic efforts would succeed.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump had privately told advisers for weeks that the Iranians were "crazy" and complained the interim ceasefire agreement negotiated earlier this summer was ultimately "meaningless," believing it would eventually fail.

Saturday's announcement suggests negotiations have since made enough progress for the administration to delay what Trump said would have been the largest American military operation since World War II.

The latest diplomatic push follows the collapse of a 60-day ceasefire reached between the United States and Iran in mid-June.

That agreement unraveled after Iran allegedly attacked a Cyprus-flagged commercial vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz last month, triggering nearly two weeks of retaliatory American military strikes against Iranian targets and renewed concerns about the security of one of the world's busiest maritime chokepoints.

The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil shipments, making its security a central concern for global energy markets and international trade.

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Iranian propaganda has crossed another sinister line — this time placing First Lady Melania Trump and her 20-year-old son, Barron, in its crosshairs.

Tasnim News Agency, an outlet closely associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, released a disturbing video Monday encouraging attacks against the president’s wife and threatening that Barron could be next.

The roughly two-minute clip opens with a bloody image of Melania alongside the words, “Where to Kill Melania?!” It then purports to track her movements through New York City, displaying footage of her motorcade and making claims about her security arrangements and personal routines, according to The Times.

The video calls on supporters of the Islamic Republic and so-called “global freedom fighters” to take action against the First Lady.

It closes with an even more chilling warning: “This is just the beginning. Barron Trump, wait for us.”

Russian state television outlet RT helped spread the propaganda on social media, claiming that the video revealed routes and routines using information obtained from “anonymous security networks,” Mediaite reported.

Much of the material, however, appears to have been compiled from publicly available information and wrapped in menacing graphics intended to make the threat appear more sophisticated.

The Secret Service confirmed Tuesday that it is examining the video.

Nate Herring, an agency spokesman, told Newsweek that the Secret Service investigates “anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees.”

“Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence,” Herring added, according to The Independent.

Both Melania and Barron receive full-time Secret Service protection, and the Trump family’s residences are heavily secured, according to the New York Post.

Neither the White House nor the First Lady’s office had publicly responded to the video as of Tuesday morning.

Fox News host Mark Levin condemned the clip after it began circulating online.

“The Iranian regime continues to threaten the assassination of Trump family members,” Levin wrote.

The threat is not an isolated piece of Tehran’s increasingly grotesque propaganda campaign.

Days earlier, billboards appeared along a highway in Tehran depicting fabricated images of Melania, Barron and Ivanka Trump as corpses. The word “KILLED” was splashed across the images alongside the warning, “Hey, terrorist! Get ready to die.”

Another display placed portraits of President Trump, his wife and all five of his children above American flag-draped coffins under the message “Blood for Blood.” Other regime-linked artwork has depicted Trump dead or staring down the sights of a rifle, the Post reported.

Some Iranian propaganda has veered into the bizarre, including AI-generated videos featuring Lego-like versions of Trump and other world leaders. But the regime’s history of pursuing assassination plots on American soil means its latest threat cannot be dismissed as another crude cartoon.

In March, a federal jury convicted Asif Merchant, an Iranian intelligence operative who entered the United States to arrange political assassinations on behalf of the IRGC.

Merchant contacted people he believed could serve as hired killers, discussed possible attacks and paid a $5,000 advance before being arrested. The supposed hitmen were undercover law enforcement officers.

The Justice Department said Merchant understood that Trump could be the eventual target of the plot, which was intended to avenge the 2020 killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

“This man landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump,” then-Attorney General Pam Bondi said following Merchant’s conviction, according to the Justice Department.

Trump has said Iran considers him its top target and has publicly warned Tehran that any attempt on his life would trigger overwhelming retaliation.

“I’m the No. 1, because they’re scum,” Trump told reporters earlier this month. “That’s the way they act.”

The president later wrote that the U.S. military had received orders to “completely decimate and destroy” Iran if the regime attempted to assassinate him.

The latest threat emerged as Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House to discuss the Iran war and possible negotiations with Tehran.

Even as Trump considers giving diplomacy another chance, the Iranian regime appears determined to send a different message — one aimed directly at his family.

Iranian propaganda has crossed another sinister line — this time placing First Lady Melania Trump and her 20-year-old son, Barron, in its crosshairs.

Tasnim News Agency, an outlet closely associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, released a disturbing video Monday encouraging attacks against the president’s wife and threatening that Barron could be next.

The roughly two-minute clip opens with a bloody image of Melania alongside the words, “Where to Kill Melania?!” It then purports to track her movements through New York City, displaying footage of her motorcade and making claims about her security arrangements and personal routines, according to The Times.

The video calls on supporters of the Islamic Republic and so-called “global freedom fighters” to take action against the First Lady.

It closes with an even more chilling warning: “This is just the beginning. Barron Trump, wait for us.”

Russian state television outlet RT helped spread the propaganda on social media, claiming that the video revealed routes and routines using information obtained from “anonymous security networks,” Mediaite reported.

Much of the material, however, appears to have been compiled from publicly available information and wrapped in menacing graphics intended to make the threat appear more sophisticated.

The Secret Service confirmed Tuesday that it is examining the video.

Nate Herring, an agency spokesman, told Newsweek that the Secret Service investigates “anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees.”

“Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence,” Herring added, according to The Independent.

Both Melania and Barron receive full-time Secret Service protection, and the Trump family’s residences are heavily secured, according to the New York Post.

Neither the White House nor the First Lady’s office had publicly responded to the video as of Tuesday morning.

Fox News host Mark Levin condemned the clip after it began circulating online.

“The Iranian regime continues to threaten the assassination of Trump family members,” Levin wrote.

The threat is not an isolated piece of Tehran’s increasingly grotesque propaganda campaign.

Days earlier, billboards appeared along a highway in Tehran depicting fabricated images of Melania, Barron and Ivanka Trump as corpses. The word “KILLED” was splashed across the images alongside the warning, “Hey, terrorist! Get ready to die.”

Another display placed portraits of President Trump, his wife and all five of his children above American flag-draped coffins under the message “Blood for Blood.” Other regime-linked artwork has depicted Trump dead or staring down the sights of a rifle, the Post reported.

Some Iranian propaganda has veered into the bizarre, including AI-generated videos featuring Lego-like versions of Trump and other world leaders. But the regime’s history of pursuing assassination plots on American soil means its latest threat cannot be dismissed as another crude cartoon.

In March, a federal jury convicted Asif Merchant, an Iranian intelligence operative who entered the United States to arrange political assassinations on behalf of the IRGC.

Merchant contacted people he believed could serve as hired killers, discussed possible attacks and paid a $5,000 advance before being arrested. The supposed hitmen were undercover law enforcement officers.

The Justice Department said Merchant understood that Trump could be the eventual target of the plot, which was intended to avenge the 2020 killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

“This man landed on American soil hoping to kill President Trump,” then-Attorney General Pam Bondi said following Merchant’s conviction, according to the Justice Department.

Trump has said Iran considers him its top target and has publicly warned Tehran that any attempt on his life would trigger overwhelming retaliation.

“I’m the No. 1, because they’re scum,” Trump told reporters earlier this month. “That’s the way they act.”

The president later wrote that the U.S. military had received orders to “completely decimate and destroy” Iran if the regime attempted to assassinate him.

The latest threat emerged as Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House to discuss the Iran war and possible negotiations with Tehran.

Even as Trump considers giving diplomacy another chance, the Iranian regime appears determined to send a different message — one aimed directly at his family.