• What Happened: Senator Ted Cruz told Sean Hannity it is entirely possible that the regimes in Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba could collapse within the next six months.
  • Why It Matters: Trump has ramped up military assets near Iran, authorized Operation Absolute Resolve targeting Nicolas Maduro, and cut off Cuba's oil supply by quarantining Venezuela.
  • Bottom Line: Cruz called it potentially the most consequential geopolitical shift since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Senator Ted Cruz is not known for understating things, but what he told Sean Hannity this week was not hyperbole. It was a serious assessment of a world that is shifting fast under President Trump's pressure campaign against America's most hostile adversaries.

Cruz, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Hannity that the collapse of the regimes in Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba within the next six months is entirely within the realm of possibility.

"We are at an extraordinary moment in history. It is entirely possible, Sean, that in the next six months, we will see the regimes fall in Iran, in Venezuela, and in Cuba, and we could also see governments replace them that want to be friends with the United States of America," Cruz said.

He was quick to pump the brakes on blind optimism. "Now, let me be clear, I'm not being Pollyannish about this; there are a thousand things that can go wrong," he added. But if it does happen, Cruz said it would be "the most consequential geopolitical shift since the fall of the Berlin Wall, since America won the Cold War without firing a shot."

Trump has been methodically turning the screws on all three regimes. The US has maintained an oil quarantine around Venezuela and authorized Operation Absolute Resolve, targeting strongman Nicolas Maduro directly. That move cut off Cuba's primary oil source, squeezing Havana at the same time. Near Iran, Trump has positioned two aircraft carriers as a show of force while keeping diplomatic channels open.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded this week by threatening to sink American warships, while Iran ran naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply flows annually.

Trump was direct on Thursday: "We may have to take it a step further, or we may not. Maybe we're going to make a deal."

Three dictatorships. One president. The clock is ticking.