U.S. Sanctions the International Criminal Court as Allies Rally to Defend the Tribunal

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday announced sweeping sanctions against the International Criminal Court, calling it a “rogue court” and threatening that the United States will “continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, brick by brick,” unless the tribunal meets American demands by April 2027.

The Treasury Department added the ICC itself to its sanctions list, a move that would bar transactions with the court and, in Rubio’s words, cut off its resources to cripple its ability to operate. U.S. companies that provide the court with banking, insurance or software services would be forced to cut ties, a far broader step than the earlier sanctions imposed on individual ICC prosecutors and judges.

Rubio said the measures would take effect April 9, 2027, giving the court and its member states six months to meet Washington’s demands, with some exemptions for telecommunications, software, pension payments and detainee-related transactions in the meantime. The U.S. demands include cancelling the arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, closing the investigation into alleged crimes by the U.S. military in Afghanistan and the CIA, and changing the court’s founding statute so nationals of countries that never joined the treaty cannot be prosecuted. “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Rubio said.

Washington’s grievances

The administration’s hostility to the court has been building for years. Washington fiercely objects to the ICC’s investigation of alleged crimes committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and rejects the arrest warrant the court issued in November 2024 for Netanyahu over the war in Gaza. Neither the United States nor Israel is a signatory to the 2002 treaty that created the court, and both reject its jurisdiction over their citizens — though the court claims authority when alleged crimes occur on the territory of member states.

The announcement came hours after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Navi Pillay, a former ICC judge honored for her fight against apartheid who also served at the Rwanda tribunal, the International Court of Justice and a U.N. commission on Palestine.

Allies push back

America’s closest allies broke ranks within hours. The remaining G7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — joined Denmark and the Netherlands in a joint statement saying they “regret and strongly disagree with” the sanctions. Britain reaffirmed its “continued and unwavering support” for the court, and the allies warned the sanctions would “have a significant impact on the court’s work,” paying tribute to staff who, in their words, work every day to bring accused war criminals to justice and support their victims.

The court itself called the sanctions “an attempt to obstruct the course of justice” and “an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order,” urging its 125 member states to defend it. “The court cannot stand alone. Its fate now rests also in the hands of the states that created it,” it said. ICC President Tomoko Akane said the court would continue to discharge its mandate “with independence and impartiality,” and Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told Reuters the tribunal’s work would not stop.

Reporting based on coverage by Alliance News via Morningstar, Le Monde, The Hindu BusinessLine and The Wall Street Journal.