With the Nimitz cruising Cuban waters, will the US launch an operation on the island b4 June 15?

The USS Nimitz carrier strike group completed a Caribbean deployment — designated Southern Seas 2026 — in late May and early June 2026, operating near Cuban waters and making a port call in Kingston, Jamaica, from June 1 to 5. No military operation against Cuba was authorized or carried out before the June 15 deadline. U.S. Southern Command described the deployment as part of a routine annual exercise that has circumnavigated South America each year since 2007, including operations with allied navies. Despite heightened U.S.-Cuba tensions — SOUTHCOM also conducted more than 150 hours of aerial surveillance over Cuba using P-8A Poseidon, RC-135V, and MQ-4C Triton aircraft — the carrier group did not engage in any offensive action. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, with more than 1,300 personnel, deployed to the region in late May under Operation Southern Lance, further underscoring the heavy U.S. presence, but administration officials publicly characterized all activity as defensive posturing and deterrence. An 81 percent majority of predictors correctly assessed that a military operation against Cuba before the deadline was unlikely.