HAVANA, Cuba (AFP)—Cuba has denied any connection to 90 fuel shipments that United States (US) authorities said they intercepted en route to the blockaded communist island.

Washington imposed a de facto energy blockade on Cuba in January, threatening to sanction any country that supplies fuel to the island of 9.4 million people.

The only fuel allowed into Cuba is that purchased in the United States by private entrepreneurs, which accounts for just three per cent of Cuban fuel needs according to official data.

US authorities announced Wednesday that they had intercepted 90 shipments of fuel bound for Enetec, a Cuban company sanctioned by Washington on July 13.

The shipments were destined for the Cuban government, Jose Figueroa of the US Department of Homeland Security’s investigative office told a Miami press conference.

“Cuba has nothing to do” with the delivery, Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy told reporters in Havana.

“We don’t even have contracts” for the purchases, he added.

US President Donald Trump has openly mused about seizing control of Cuba, claiming that the island located 150 kilometres (90 miles) off the coast of Florida poses an “extraordinary threat” to national security.

Washington’s intense pressure on Havana coincides with an unprecedented increase in Cuban imports from the United States, driven mostly by the island’s growing private sector.

Cuba imported more than $875 million worth of goods between January and August, which exceeds the total value of imports for all of 2025, US data shows.

Washington’s energy blockade has plunged the island into economic turmoil, with power cuts and food shortages now the norm for most Cubans.