The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on Cuba’s Banco Internacional de Comercio S.A. (BICSA), accusing the bank of maintaining ties with Iran’s Karafarin Bank, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2020.

The measures are part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to increase economic pressure on Iran. Washington alleges that BICSA maintained connections with Karafarin Bank beginning at least in 2022.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuba has allowed Iran and other actors targeted by Washington to use the island as a base for operations directed against American interests.

“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 said in a statement.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez condemned the sanctions, describing them as “aggressive” and defending BICSA’s operations.

Rodriguez called the institution “an absolutely legitimate bank whose transactions in Cuba and around the world are also absolutely legitimate.”

He further accused Washington of seeking to damage Cuba’s economy and punish its population through sweeping restrictions.

“It demonstrates a criminal determination to impose maximum collective punishment on the Cuban people and ‘shut off every valve’ for the Cuban economy,” Rodriguez wrote on X.

The sanctions come amid an intensifying U.S. campaign against Cuba. On January 29, the Trump administration declared the communist-ruled island a threat to U.S. national security. Washington has since increased diplomatic and economic pressure through additional sanctions and an oil embargo.

The Treasury Department also announced sanctions Thursday against Iraq-based International Development Bank for Investment and Finance, which it accused of providing financial services and access to U.S. dollars for Iran. Several Iranian banks, companies and individuals were also targeted as Washington broadened its efforts to restrict Tehran’s access to the international financial system.