US sanctions International Criminal Court itself, threatens to end its operations
The United States imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) on October 9, escalating its confrontation with the tribunal from targeting individual judges and prosecutors to restricting the institution itself. Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to end the court's operations unless it addressed Washington's demands.
“Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Rubio said in a statement reported by Reuters.
“President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans,” he added, calling the tribunal a “rogue court.”
Rubio said the sanctions were intended to prohibit transactions with the ICC, restrict its resources and cripple its ability to operate.
The move goes significantly further than previous US sanctions targeting individual ICC judges and prosecutors. It could affect companies providing the court with banking, insurance, software and other essential services.
However, the US Treasury issued four general licenses allowing certain transactions, including those related to telecommunications, software, pension payments and ICC detainees.
Rubio said the measures had been structured to give the court and its 125 member states an opportunity to negotiate a solution to Washington's concerns.
“We expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American servicemembers for their defense, to rein in the court,” he said.
The United States is not a member of the ICC. The court's member states include all European Union countries and all NATO members except the United States and Turkey.
Washington has criticized the court over its 2024 arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as an earlier investigation into alleged crimes involving US personnel in Afghanistan, which has since been closed.
ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan condemned the sanctions, saying they were intended to undermine international law and the work of an independent judicial institution.
“Our work will continue across all our situations, our investigations and our prosecutions,” she told Reuters.
According to Reuters, ICC officials had been preparing for sanctions against the institution for months, including by replacing Microsoft software with open-source alternatives and arranging new banking and health insurance services.
The sanctions were announced just hours after South African jurist Navi Pillay, who served as an ICC appeals judge from 2003 to 2008, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said the award was intended in part as a reminder of the importance of international justice at a time when judges and international legal institutions face political attacks.
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