US Imposes New Sanctions on ICC
The US will impose new sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The decision faces harsh criticism from the EU and the UN.
The announcement of the sanctions comes just hours after former ICC judge Navanethem Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
"President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans," says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a prepared statement seen by the news agency Reuters.
As a result, the statement notes, the US intends to use the sanctions to "ban transactions with this rogue court, cut off its resources, and weaken its ability to operate."
EU pledges support
The US-announced sanctions are rejected by the ICC, which describes them in a statement as "an attack on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order."
The European Commission is also sharply critical of Washington's actions.
"It is deeply regrettable that the US has announced its intention to impose sanctions [on the ICC]. The EU will work closely with the ICC to ensure that the court can continue its operations," the Commission says in a statement. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, through his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, says he is "deeply concerned about the potential consequences" of the measures.
Support from Netanyahu
For his part, UN human rights chief Volker Türk states that the sanctions are "unacceptable."
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises the US measures:
"The ICC is not a court. It is a political body that poses a mortal threat to law-abiding democracies worldwide, as well as to the very concept of national sovereignty," Netanyahu wrote in a post on X via his office.
Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
As recently as August, the Trump administration—which considers the court's operations to be "politicized"—imposed sanctions on two ICC judges.
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