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US sanctions on International Criminal Court spark global outcry
Confirmed
In Short: The United States on Friday announced sanctions on the International Criminal Court, vowing to cripple its operations just hours after the Nobel Peace Prize went to a former ICC judge who warned of mounting political attacks on the court, according to AFP.
AFP and Arabnews (Saudi Arabia) reported that the Trump administration had already sanctioned 17 people linked to the court, including its prosecutor and several judges, over the ICC's investigations involving the United States and Israel, which is also not a member.
AFP and Arabnews (Saudi Arabia) noted that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban transactions with what he called a “rogue court.” Rubio's statement did not mention the Nobel award recipient, former ICC judge Navi Pillay.
According to Al Jazeera (Qatar) and Daily Sabah (Türkiye), the sanctions represent an assault on the rule of law and the international legal order, undermining the principle that no individual is above the law.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) reported that the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) had voted to remove prosecutor Karim Khan over sexual misconduct allegations, suggesting the move was “political.” Daily Sabah (Türkiye) did not mention this specific allegation but noted the court's warning that sanctions could affect operations involving procurement and financial transactions.
Daily Sabah (Türkiye) and BBC (United Kingdom) reported that the US sanctions target the entire ICC, aiming to disrupt its finances and day-to-day operations. The sanctions could be finalized as early as this week during the United Nations General Assembly gathering in New York.
The ICC warned that sanctions on the organization as a whole could affect operations that involve procuring IT services, insurance, hiring investigators, and daily financial transactions such as paying dozens of American employees, according to Newscord.
According to Daily Sabah (Türkiye) and ABC News, the departures of Venezuela and Chad bring to five the number of countries to withdraw from the court in the past year, joining Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
Daily Sabah (Türkiye) noted that Ukraine previously signed an agreement to give the court jurisdiction over crimes on its territory following the outbreak of hostilities with Russia in 2014.
The Rome Statute established the ICC in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression, according to ABC News and Daily Sabah (Türkiye).
Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told Reuters the sanctions “must be condemned,” adding that the court will continue working “across all our situations, our investigations and our prosecutions,” according to Kyiv Post (Ukraine).
Both Arabnews (Saudi Arabia) and Daily Sabah (Türkiye) reported that the US sanctions target the entire ICC, aiming to disrupt its finances and day-to-day operations.
Both outlets agreed that the sanctions could affect the court's ability to procure IT services, insurance, hire investigators, and conduct daily financial transactions.
Background
The US has sanctioned the International Criminal Court, vowing to cripple its operations.
What's confirmed
- The sanctions represent "an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order," the court said, warning that they undermine the principle that no individual is above the law.
- THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- As the United States ratchets up the pressure on the International Criminal Court, sanctioning two more high-ranking staff members in recent weeks, a small but growing number of the global tribunal’s member states have announced they will quit the institution.
- Rubio has previously described the administration’s broader approach to the court as a “sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to US sovereignty." (Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Yom Kippur in New York.
- The departures of Venezuela and Chad bring to five the number of countries to withdraw from the court in the past year, joining Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
- Its Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul said in a statement that in a phone call with a U.S. official on July 23, “the American side expressed its concerns regarding the functioning of this institution and requested that Chad reconsider” its membership.
- The Rome Statute established the ICC in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.
- Rubio said he will pressure the court’s 125 member states to withdraw from the institution, sanction organizations that work with the court and ban staff from traveling to the United States.
- “These countries are ruled by authoritarian leaders who want to avoid accountability for the harms they are inflicting on their own people,” Mel O’Brien, an associate professor of international law at the University of Western Australia, told the AP.
- The ICC has become an “instrument of neocolonial repression in the hands of imperialism,” the trio said when they announced their departures last year.
- “Five countries so far have announced plans to withdraw from the Rome Statute, and we welcome more announcements in the future,” a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told The Associated Press.
- Trump’s administration already has sanctioned a dozen ICC staff in retaliation for warrants the court has issued for top Israeli officials over the war in Gaza and investigations into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.
- The court also had an active investigation in the Philippines when then-President Rodrigo Duterte said his country would leave the ICC.
What's still developing
- The top US diplomat said Washington had for more than a year spelled out "basic gestures of good faith" it expected from the court, and had held off on the designation in hopes that the ICC or its member states would change course. He said no "meaningful steps" had been taken to address US concerns. Rubio also called on US allies that belong to the court and "rely on American service members for their defense" to rein it in, warning that otherwise Washington would keep working to dismantle the ICC "brick by brick."
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- The Trump administration is preparing a new round of sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court (ICC) that could significantly limit the tribunal’s ability to operate within the international financial system, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
- “The Trump administration has been clear: the International Criminal Court is a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate,” Rubio said at the time.
- The move is Donald Trump’s latest move to defend wanted Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu.
- He accused international officials of seeking greater powers at the expense of national sovereignty and said President Donald Trump would not permit the court to prosecute Americans.
- "Today, employees of the Police Department, together with the National Security Agency and with the support of international partners, conducted a targeted and coordinated operation aimed at preventing, detecting, and neutralizing illegal activities on the territory of Montenegro," Montenegro's police said.
- Published 21 Sept 2026, 01:26 UTC Updated 21 Sept 2026, 11:09 UTC This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets.
- Hungary announced it would withdraw from the court in 2025, but following the election of a new government, its parliament voted to remain.