The US on Friday imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced, hours after former court judge Navi Pillay won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, Anadolu reports.
“President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans. That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court,” Rubio said in a statement.
Rubio said Washington had deferred the designation “in hopes that the ICC would change course or would otherwise be restrained by States Parties,” but neither had “taken meaningful steps to address our concerns.”
“Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Rubio said, calling on US allies that are members of the court “to rein in the court.”
“If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, brick by brick, until Americans are threatened no longer,” he added.
The ICC strongly rejected the sanctions, describing them as an assault on the rule of law.
The court also urged its member states to ensure its continued operation.
The announcement came hours after Pillay, a South African jurist who served on the ICC’s Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008, won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in international criminal justice.
The sanctions also followed intensified US pressure on the court after it issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Washington previously sanctioned ICC judges and prosecutors, including court President Tomoko Akane in August.
At a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on July 31, US President Donald Trump said Rubio’s campaign against the court was not intended to protect him.
“He’s trying to defend Bibi and various other people,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu.
The ICC has 125 member states. Neither the US nor Israel is a party to the court.
