United States sanctions BICSA over services to Iranian bank

The United States sanctioned Banco Internacional de Comercio, known as BICSA, for providing services to Iran’s Karafarin Bank. The secretary of state announced the measure and identified the cited financial relationship as the central reason for the action. The information describes BICSA as a Cuban state entity and places the services provided to the Iranian bank as beginning at least by 2022.

The Cuban bank appears in the announcement under its full name, Banco Internacional de Comercio, and the initials BICSA. The U.S. authority connected the sanction with services the entity allegedly offered to Karafarin Bank. The cited relationship dates back to at least 2022 under the announcement, but the specific services are not identified.

The State Department imposed the measure on October 15. The report presents two different time references: the date the decision was announced or taken and the earliest year attributed to the financial services. The year 2022 is a minimum duration reference, not an exact start date. The text gives no specific day when those services began.

The episode places BICSA at the center because of its cited connection with an Iranian banking entity. Its identification as a Cuban state entity is part of the announcement and distinguishes the sanctioned bank from Karafarin Bank, which allegedly received the services. The information describes the communicated reason but not the operational scope of the services or particular transactions.

The confirmed information is the imposition of U.S. sanctions on BICSA, announced by the secretary of state, and the stated connection to services for Karafarin Bank since at least 2022. The material does not detail the sanctioning instrument, concrete consequences for the bank’s operations or responses from the entities named. Its scope should therefore remain limited to the announcement.