Pompeo reportedly considering designating Cuba a terrorism sponsor

Obama era deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes calls possible move ‘complete nonsense’

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo will reportedly need to decide whether to approve a plan from State Department officials to designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Two US officials told The New York Times on Tuesday that Mr Pompeo must decide whether to approve the plan before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on 20 January.

The move would serve as a thank you to Cuban-Americans and other people in Florida who voted for President Donald Trump in November’s election, the two officials told the Times.

Since taking power in 2017, President Trump has rolled back the easing of the relationship between the US and the communist-run state, first started by former US President Barack Obama in 2015.

In the past few months, the Trump administration has banned purchases of rum and tobacco from the country, while also implementing new travel restrictions from the US.

While in May, the State Department found that Cuba was among four other countries not fully cooperating with the US on counterterrorism efforts.

Cuba was put on the list of countries deemed to sponsor terrorism by the US during the Reagan administration in the 1980s, but was officially removed from it in 2015, after Mr Obama announced a normalisation of relations between the two nations.

It is thought that Mr Biden, who served as vice president in the Obama administration, will attempt to restore the US’ relationship with Cuba and relax trade and travel restrictions when he becomes president in January.

It is not yet known whether Mr Pompeo will approve the plan to designate Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism, and a State Department spokeswoman told the Times that the agency does not discuss “deliberations or potential deliberations” regarding terrorism designations. The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.

The Biden administration will attempt to reverse the designation if it is approved by Mr Pompeo, but doing so would take them months, according to the Times.

Iran, Syria and North Korea are the three countries currently on the US’ list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The US State Department states that designating a country as a sponsor of terrorism triggers sanctions, including “restrictions on US foreign assistance; a ban on defence exports and sales; certain controls over exports of dual use items; and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions.”

The US officials told the Times that the plan to designate Cuba stemmed from the department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, instead of the Counterterrorism Bureau, which would normally make the move.

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration, told the Times that the change from standard protocol “is a sign that they know they can't get Cuba on the list on the merits.”

New York representative Gregory W Meeks, the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticised the possible designation on Tuesday, telling the Times that the move is “another stunt by this president with less than 23 days to go,” and claiming that Mr Trump is “trying to put handcuffs on the incoming administration.”

Mr Rhodes also criticised the move, calling the possible designation “complete nonsense”, before adding: “Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism.”