The Department of State is taking its most dramatic action yet against the International Criminal Court, directly sanctioning the institution and demanding that allies follow suit.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision in a Friday address, declaring that the U.S. will restrict international transactions with the court and seek to isolate it both materially and politically. It is the first round of sanctions directed specifically at the ICC, rather than at a judge or official within the organization.
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us. Because our message is clear: the United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC […] Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Rubio said. “And we expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American servicemembers for their defense, to rein in this rogue court.”
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD TO SOUTH AFRICAN JURIST NAVI PILLAY LEGITIMIZES ‘ANTI-ISRAEL HATRED’
The U.S. has never been a member of the ICC and has rejected the court’s authority across both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Rubio criticized the “fake” court as a “rogue” organization run by “globalist ‘experts’ that are an ocean away.” He condemned the court for seeking to prosecute American citizens and officials despite the U.S. not recognizing its authority.
“They want the International Criminal Court to do more — including the prosecution of American citizens and servicemembers who are defending their country,” he said. “They want to prosecute Border Patrol agents that are protecting our nation’s borders, and they want to prosecute our elected leaders that are ensuring our national security. They want more power, and they want it at the expense of our sovereignty as a nation. And President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans.”
Sanctions from the State Department carry immense power internationally, preventing U.S. financial institutions from engaging with the subject. This can affect foreign nationals’ abilities to bank, use credit cards, or even pay bills.
It’s the biggest swing taken against the court yet, but far from the first. Punishing the ICC, its officials, and its supporters has been a recurring priority for the Trump administration. Washington has long accused the ICC of working to undermine “state sovereignty” and called the body a “corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.”
The State Department announced in August that it would be sanctioning ICC President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese legal scholar who serves as the ICC’s president, for having “directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.” ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, a Senegalese national, was also hit with sanctions.
ICC judges Kimberly Prost from Canada, Reine Alapini-Gansou from Benin, and Solomy Balungi Bossa from Uganda jointly filed a lawsuit in June seeking immediate relief from sanctions imposed by the State and Treasury Departments for their activities related to the court. The judges described the effects of the sanctions a “financial death penalty.”
RUBIO SANCTIONS ICC LEADERS TO STOP ‘SHAM’ COURT FROM TRYING ‘PRETEND OFFENSES’
A watershed moment for the ICC occurred in 2024, when the court issued an international arrest warrant for sitting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes.
The court, which has also issued high-profile warrants against President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials, maintains no police or military body and relies on member states’ obedience to enforce its mandates. The ICC maintains that these arrest warrants are non-negotiable. However, its authority was severely undercut when multiple members in Europe refused to comply — including Italy, France, and Germany.
Netanyahu attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York City without incident last month despite Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigning on a promise to use the NYPD to arrest the Israeli leader in compliance with the ICC. Mamdani acknowledged in a July video address that his city government lacked the “independent legal authority to enforce this warrant” but urged the federal government to act instead — a plea that went unheeded.