Cuba’s national electric grid has collapsed, leaving about 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the ‌island’s already obsolete generation system.

The country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of Cuba’s electrical system on Monday (local time) and said it was investigating.

It said there were no failures in the units that were operating when the grid collapsed.

US President Donald ​Trump cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened to slap tariffs on any country that sells oil to Cuba, strangling the Caribbean island’s already antiquated grid.

Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba on Tuesday (AEDT), saying he expected to have the “honour” ‌of “taking Cuba in some form” and that “I can do anything I want” with the neighbouring country.

“I mean, ‌whether I free ⁠it, take it. Think I can do anything I want with it. You want to know ​the truth,” Trump said at a signing event in the Oval Office.

The threatening statements come even as Cuba and the US have opened talks aimed at improving their largely adverse relations, which have reached one of their most contentious moments in the 67 years since Fidel Castro overthrew what had been a close US ally.

After Trump spoke, The New York Times reported that removing Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel from office was a key US objective in the bilateral talks.

Citing four people familiar with the talks, the Times said the Americans had signalled to Cuban negotiators that Diaz-Canel must go but were leaving the next steps up to the Cubans.

Cuba has traditionally rejected any interference in its internal affairs and ⁠has considered any proposals on that front a deal-breaker for any agreement.

Diaz-Canel, 65, who ‌succeeded Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro as president in 2018, said on Friday he expected talks with the United States to go ahead “under ​the principles of equality ‌and respect for the political systems of both countries, sovereignty and self-determination”.

But Trump, after removing Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from power and joining Israel in attacking ​Iran, has openly mused that Cuba would be “next”.

He stepped up pressure by halting all Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatening to slap tariffs on any country that sells oil to Cuba.

As a result, Cuba says it has received no oil ​shipments in ​three months and has imposed severe energy rationing, ​resulting in extended power outages. Much of its economy has ground to a ‌halt.