Published : 09 Oct 2026, 08:43 PM
Updated : 09 Oct 2026, 08:43 PM
The United States imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after former ICC judge Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize, escalating Washington’s confrontation with the tribunal and risking further tensions with European allies.
The sanctions could go beyond earlier US measures against individual prosecutors and judges by targeting companies that provide services to the court, potentially disrupting its operations.
“President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement reviewed by Reuters ahead of the announcement.
The United States would ban transactions with what Rubio called a “rogue court”, cutting off its resources and crippling its ability to operate.
Washington has long opposed the ICC, particularly over arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a previous investigation into the conduct of US soldiers in Afghanistan that the court has since closed.
Founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, the ICC has 125 member states, including all European Union countries and all NATO members except the US and Turkey. The court is based in the Netherlands.
Pillay, a South African jurist, served on the ICC’s Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008. The Nobel committee said the award sought to highlight a time when judges and institutions of international law were facing political attacks.
“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 committee said.
Rubio said the sanctions had been designed to give the court and its member states time to address US concerns. A senior State Department official said the US Treasury would issue licences to protect American interests, apparently referring to temporary exemptions from some restrictions.
US Expects Allies to Rein in the Court
US sanctions typically prevent American companies from doing business with targeted organisations. They can also pressure banks to close accounts, insurers to withdraw coverage and software providers to end cooperation.
The Trump administration imposed targeted sanctions on ICC officials during his first term, but those measures were rescinded under President Joe Biden. Washington announced new sanctions days after Trump returned to office in January 2025.
ICC officials have spent months preparing for possible sanctions against the court itself, moving office computers away from Microsoft software to open-source alternatives and making new arrangements for banking and health insurance.
The court’s registrar, Osvaldo Zavala Giler, earlier this week urged the European Union to prepare a “blocking mechanism” to shield European countries from the extra-territorial effects of US sanctions.
Rubio said Washington had delayed the measures in the hope that the ICC and countries party to its founding Rome Statute would address US concerns, but that had not happened.
“Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Rubio said, adding that Washington expected allies that rely on American servicemembers for their defence to help rein in the court.
He said the measures left room for negotiations with member states. If those efforts failed, the United States would continue to adjust its actions.
