The United States announced new sanctions against the Cuban regime, this time targeting the International Bank of Commerce SA (BICSA), a state-owned financial institution accused of providing services to the Iranian bank Karafarin Bank, which has been sanctioned by Washington since 2020.

The measure, announced on Thursday, October 15, is part of the Trump Administration’s offensive to restrict Havana’s financial operations and its ties with Tehran.

The State Department reported that it sanctioned BICSA under Executive Order 14404, signed by Trump on May 1, 2026, which expands Washington’s powers to impose restrictions against individuals and entities linked to the Cuban security apparatus, repression, and threats to U.S. national security.

According to the official statement, the Cuban bank has provided services to Karafarin Bank since at least 2022. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Iranian entity in 2020 under Executive Order 13902, which allows for restrictions to be imposed on actors operating in certain sectors of the Iranian economy.

“We will continue to aggressively identify and eliminate the Cuban regime’s financial and security interconnections with Iran and other dangerous and hostile states and actors,” the State Department warned in its statement.

The Trump administration maintains that the Cuban regime allows the presence and operations of foreign actors hostile to the United States in the region. In this context, Washington has placed the ties between Havana and Tehran among its top security concerns.

 What do the sanctions against BICSA entail?

The designation entails the blocking of all property and interests in property of BICSA that are in the United States or are in the possession or control of U.S. persons. These assets must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a division of the Department of the Treasury.

In addition, U.S. persons or persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction are prohibited from conducting transactions with the sanctioned entity unless they have an authorization or are covered by an exemption.

The restrictions also pose risks to foreign individuals and entities that conduct certain transactions with sanctioned actors or operate in Cuban sectors subject to the measures of Executive Order 14404, including financial services. International financial institutions must exercise extreme caution to avoid transactions that could expose them to U.S. sanctions.

The designation of BICSA coincided with a new round of sanctions against Iranian actors announced Thursday by the Treasury Department. According to Reuters, the measure targeted 16 individuals and 10 entities linked to Iran.

The action against the Cuban bank was carried out in coordination with these measures and reinforces Washington’s interest in pursuing the financial connections between Havana and Tehran.

Information on the sanctions against Iran is available in OFAC’s official record of recent actions, while the State Department published details of the BICSA designation in its official statement.

 A wave of sanctions against Havana

The new measures are part of a sanctions offensive that Washington has intensified over the past year against state entities, officials, and structures linked to the Cuban regime. @ADNCuba

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