The Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the regime in Havana of operating as a base for hostile actors and terrorist groups—including the Islamic Republic of Iran—that seek to attack the United States from less than a hundred miles away from its territory.
"For too long, communist Cuba has been able to operate as a base for hostile actors and terrorist groups—including the Islamic Republic of Iran, the main state sponsor of terrorism in the world—to attack the United States," Rubio stated in an official statement from the Department of State.
This document announced on Thursday the sanction against Banco Internacional de Comercio S.A. (BICSA), a Cuban state financial entity, and notes that BICSA provided financial services to the Iranian Karafarin Bank since at least 2022, an entity that the Department of the Treasury had sanctioned in 2020 under Executive Order 13902 for operating in Iran's financial sector.
The designation was made under section 2(a)(i)(A) of Executive Order 14404, signed by President Trump on May 1, 2026, which authorizes broad sanctions against those operating in the financial sector of the Cuban economy.
As an immediate consequence, all assets and interests of BICSA under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Additionally, any foreign entity that engages in transactions with the Cuban bank is exposed to secondary sanctions from Washington.
However, OFAC clarified that it does not intend to sanction individuals or foreign financial institutions for ordinary and necessary operations to disassociate from BICSA or to conclude transactions with that entity until November 14, 2026. This provision does not authorize operations that are already prohibited for individuals under U.S. jurisdiction.
The action was coordinated with a broader operation by the Department of the Treasury against Iranian financial networks, which also designated the Iraqi bank International Development Bank for Investment and Finance and two Iranian entities: Jazireh International Bank Company and Chabahar International Bank Overseas Company.
Rubio was categorical in warning about the intentions of the Trump administration: "We will not tolerate a rogue state hosting military, intelligence, and terrorist operations less than a hundred miles from our territory."
The secretary added that Washington will continue to "aggressively identify and eliminate the financial and security interconnections of the Cuban regime with Iran and other dangerous and hostile states and actors."
The sanction against BICSA represents the third blow to the Cuban banking system in less than four months: the International Financial Bank was sanctioned on June 23 along with other entities linked to GAESA, and the Cuban Foreign Bank fell on September 3 in a round targeting the financial, energy, and mining sectors.
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla rejected the measure and described BICSA as an "absolutely legitimate bank" whose transactions "are also legitimate." Rodríguez accused the U.S. government of intensifying the "collective punishment" against the Cuban people and attempting to "shut off every valve" to the island's economy.
Cuba was readded to the list of state sponsors of terrorism on January 20, 2025, when Trump reversed his predecessor's decision, and remains on that list alongside Iran and North Korea.
The sanction comes shortly before the vote scheduled for October 28, 2026 in the UN General Assembly regarding the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
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