U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Cuba of helping Iran evade American sanctions Thursday, targeting a Cuban state-owned bank he says has been providing financial services to an Iranian institution already blacklisted by Washington.
“For too long, Communist Cuba has been allowed to operate as an outpost for malign actors and terror groups – including the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism – to target the United States,” Rubio wrote on X.
Rubio identified the Cuban bank as Banco Internacional de Comercio S.A. (BICSA), which the State Department says has provided services to Iran’s Karafarin Bank since at least 2022. The U.S. sanctioned Karafarin in 2020.
Rubio followed the announcement with a warning:
“Let me be absolutely clear: the Trump Administration will not tolerate a rogue state hosting hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations less than a hundred miles from our homeland.”
For too long, Communist Cuba has been allowed to operate as an outpost for malign actors and terror groups – including the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism – to target the United States.
Today, I designated BICSA, a Cuban financial institution which has been providing financial services to sanctioned Iranian entities.
Let me be absolutely clear: the Trump Administration will not tolerate a rogue state hosting hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations less than a hundred miles from our homeland. https://t.co/MMEgob7I1V
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) October 15, 2026
The sanctions generally block BICSA’s property under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit Americans from doing business with the bank.
Rubio’s move was coordinated with a broader Treasury Department crackdown on Iranian financial networks, including an Iraqi bank accused of helping Tehran evade sanctions.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has called the administration’s campaign against Iranian financial networks “Operation Economic Outcast,” delivered his own warning Thursday.
“The noose is tightening around Iran’s economy, and not even Iran’s so-called allies can save it,” Bessent said in a Treasury Department statement.
The administration’s latest Iran-related sanctions targeted 16 individuals and ten entities, according to Reuters.
Rubio, a longtime opponent of Cuba’s communist government, has also faced renewed criticism from Havana over Washington’s economic pressure on the island.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused Rubio this week of trying to influence other governments ahead of the United Nations General Assembly’s annual vote on a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
“The U.S. Secretary of State, nervous and anxious about another defeat at the United Nations, is pressuring and blackmailing heads of state and government,” Rodríguez wrote on X, according to to EFE’s Spanish-language reporting.