Appearing on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, October 17, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson revealed that the Trump administration was reviewing whether to close the U.S. embassy in Havana because of the mysterious injuries suffered by U.S. diplomats from late 2016 to early 2017. Just two days earlier, five Republican senators, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) among them, urged Tillerson to close the embassy and expel all Cuban diplomats from the United States in retaliation for the purported attacks.

Closing the U.S. embassy makes no sense. It would punish Cuba for actions whose perpetrator remains unidentified, and it would seriously damage U.S. interests. The demands of these Republicans come as no surprise. They opposed the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba in the first place and are using the injuries to U.S. personnel as a handy excuse to refight a policy battle they lost, not only in 2016 when President Barack Obama restored relations, but again in 2017 when President Donald Trump decided not to break them.