In a swift escalation of Washington’s long-running feud with the International Criminal Court, US President Donald Trump’s administration has slapped sanctions on the tribunal just hours after a former ICC judge was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The court condemned the decision as an “assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order,” urging its 125 member states to rally to its defence.
“The court cannot stand alone. Its fate now rests also in the hands of the states that created it,” it said in a statement.
It added: “This is not just about defending a single institution, but about safeguarding the international order grounded upon the rule of law.
“History will judge this moment.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly criticised the court, which was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and it has previously sanctioned individual ICC prosecutors and judges.
This latest step is broader in scope, potentially reaching companies that provide services to the court itself—an extraordinary escalation against an institution created through an international treaty.
The United States signed the Rome Statute that established the ICC but never ratified it.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US ‘will ban transactions with this rogue court’
“President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, first published by Reuters.
He said: “That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court.
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate.”
The US Treasury said the sanctions would begin with a six-month initial grace period, alongside exemptions permitting certain dealings involving telecommunications, software, pension payments and transactions tied to detainees.
Mr Rubio said the measures were designed to give the court and its member states time to respond to US concerns, and warned the sanctions would be adjusted if Washington’s demands were not satisfied.
US officials have criticised the ICC over arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the court’s scrutiny of alleged actions by US soldiers in Afghanistan—an investigation the ICC says is “deprioritised”.
In his statement, Mr Rubio pointed to calls from outside experts urging the ICC to pursue cases against American service members, border patrol agents and elected leaders.
ICC officials have not taken steps toward such prosecutions.
“The sanctions are intended to undermine the rule of law internationally and the work that an independent judicial institution is doing,” ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khantold Reuters.
“Our work will continue across all our situations, our investigations and our prosecutions,” she added.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on social media that the six-month period “offers a window for dialogue,” while adding the bloc “has options to ensure that (the ICC) can continue its vital work”.
Belgium’s foreign minister called for an EU blocking statute to be activated to protect the court.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants against more than 70 people, including world leaders and major figures in global conflicts.
Alongside Mr Netanyahu, the court has also sought the arrest of Hamas figures.
Other subjects of arrest warrants include Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Sudan president Omar al-Bashir and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Cases against Kenyan President William Ruto and former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta were later withdrawn.
The move came after the Nobel Prize was awarded to former ICC judge Navi Pillay
Despite US efforts to persuade countries to leave the court, the ICC has maintained solid support across most of its membership, which includes every EU country and all NATO allies except the United States and Turkey.
The court is headquartered in the Netherlands, itself an EU and NATO member.
The timing of the sanctions was especially striking: earlier the same day, the Nobel Peace Prize went to South African jurist Navi Pillay, who served on the ICC’s Appeals Chamber from 2003 – 2008. The Nobel committee explicitly framed the award as a signal of support for international tribunals at a moment when “judges and institutions of international law are under political attack”.
“An international legal system in which war criminals are held to account and the victims of abuse see justice served is a precondition for a peaceful world,” the prize committee said.
President Trump criticised the decision as “disgraceful,” saying the honour should have gone to him.
He called the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s selection “a disgraceful and embarrassing decision,” telling a rally of supporters in New York that he had “never heard of” Ms Pillay.
“I never heard of this particular person, but congratulations anyway,” he said.
“The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t,” he added.
Ms Pillay, meanwhile, made a light remark about potentially sharing the prize with Mr Trump, telling an applauding crowd after the announcement: “If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.”
Her comment appeared to nod to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who handed her Nobel gold medal to Mr Trump after winning the prize last year.
US sanctions typically prevent US-based companies from working with a designated organisation, prompting banks to close accounts, insurers to withdraw coverage and software firms to suspend cooperation.
During Mr Trump’s first term, his administration levied targeted sanctions on ICC officials, measures later lifted under president Joe Biden.
Washington announced new sanctions only days after Mr Trump returned to office in January 2025.
In anticipation of the threat, court officials have spent months preparing for possible restrictions on the institution itself, including moving office computers away from Microsoft software to open-source alternatives and putting new banking and health-insurance arrangements in place.
