The United States imposed sanctions on the international criminal court (ICC), its latest escalation against an entity the Trump administration has accused of politicization and unfairly targeting Americans for war crime charges.
The ICC accused Donald Trump’s officials of attempting to “obstruct the course of justice” after “an assault” on the international legal order.
Just hours after a former ICC judge was awarded the Nobel Peace prize, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, announced in a video that the US would move to impose financial sanctions.
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling their 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,” Rubio said in a video posted on X. “We don’t need that court and we don’t want it.”
In a statement, the court warned that “history will judge this moment” and urged other members to ensure it can continue the function. “It is an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the Court from doing what it was created to do. It is an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order,” the ICC said in a statement.
The Trump administration has repeatedly condemned the ICC for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. It also opened an investigation into the actions of US soldiers in Afghanistan, although the case has been closed. “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Rubio said.
The ICC was established in 2002 as an international tribunal to hold countries accountable for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
More details soon …