Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel has promised the country will put up fierce resistance in the event of military aggression by the US, after Donald Trump threatened to attack when the war with Iran is over.

Díaz-Canel was addressing a crowd last week on the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, a failed CIA-led attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow its government in 1961.

“We have to be ready to resist serious threats, including military aggression,” he said. “We do not seek it, but it is our duty to prepare to avert it, and, should it prove inevitable, to win it.”

He added: “As long as there is a woman and a man willing to give their lives for the revolution, we will be victorious.” During the speech, the crowd chanted “We don’t want to be an American colony,” according to CNN.

Speaking to RT the following day, Díaz-Canel referenced Cuban fighters who died while guarding Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro as he was kidnapped by US forces earlier this year.

“If 32 Cubans fell in Venezuela defending the president of that nation, why wouldn’t millions fight to save the revolution?” he said.

Trump last week told reporters at the White House that the US “may stop by Cuba after we’re finished with” the Iran war. Since kidnapping Maduro, Trump has escalated a decades-long US blockade against Cuba by cutting off its oil supplies from Venezuela and elsewhere.

The fuel blockade has caused a humanitarian crisis on the island, with hospitals unable to treat patients and families struggling without power. Pediatric medics have said they are forced to hand-pump baby ventilators during power outages.

Cuba’s government confirmed on Monday that its officials had held several meetings with Trump administration representatives this month.

Alejandro Garcia del Toro, deputy director general in charge of US affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry, told Cuba’s state-backed Granma newspaper that the US did not issue any threats or deadlines at those meetings, contrary to some media reports.

“The entire exchange was conducted with respect and professionalism,” he said.

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