US President Donald Trump’s administration has sanctioned the International Criminal Court, escalating its long-running confrontation with the tribunal just hours after one of its former judges was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The court condemned the action as an “assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order” and urged its 125 member states to respond.
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“The court cannot stand alone. Its fate now rests also in the hands of the states that created it,” the ICC said in a statement.
“This is not just about defending a single institution, but about safeguarding the international order grounded upon the rule of law,” it added.
The Trump administration has opposed the court for years. Established in 2002, the ICC prosecutes war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and has previously faced US sanctions targeting its prosecutors and judges.
The latest measures go substantially further, potentially penalising companies that provide services to the court and representing an unprecedented assault on an institution created through an international treaty.
The US 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.
“That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court,” he said.
“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 grace period and include exemptions permitting some transactions involving telecommunications, software, pension payments and detainee-related matters.
Mr Rubio said the measures had been designed to give the court and its member states time to respond to Washington’s concerns. He added that the sanctions could be adjusted if those demands were not addressed.
Washington has criticised the ICC over arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as its investigation into the conduct of US soldiers in Afghanistan, which the court says has been “deprioritised”.
In his statement, Mr Rubio referred to calls from outside experts for the ICC to prosecute US service members, border patrol agents and elected leaders.
ICC officials have not taken steps towards any 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 Khan told 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 warning that the bloc “has options to ensure that (the ICC) can continue its vital work”.
Belgium’s foreign minister called for the EU’s blocking statute to be activated to shield the court from the impact of the sanctions.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants against more than 70 people, including world leaders and prominent figures involved in major international conflicts.
Alongside Mr Netanyahu, the court has sought the arrest of Hamas figures.
Other people targeted by its warrants include Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Charges against Kenyan President William Ruto and former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta were withdrawn.
The move came after the Nobel Prize was awarded to former ICC judge Navi Pillay
Although the US has urged countries to leave the court, the ICC continues to receive strong support from most of its members. They include every EU country and every NATO member except the United States and Turkey.
The court is based in the Netherlands, which belongs to both the EU and NATO.
The Nobel Peace Prize awarded hours earlier to South African jurist Navi Pillay, who served on the ICC’s Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008, was explicitly presented by the prize committee as a show of support for international tribunals at a time 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 called the decision “disgraceful” and argued that the honour should have been awarded to him instead.
He described the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice as “a disgraceful and embarrassing decision” and told supporters at a rally 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 joked about sharing the award with Mr Trump, telling a crowd that applauded her after the announcement: “If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.”
Her remark appeared to refer to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who gave her Nobel gold medal to Mr Trump after receiving the prize last year.
US sanctions typically prohibit American companies from conducting business with a sanctioned organisation, leaving banks to close accounts, insurers to withdraw coverage and software firms to suspend cooperation.
During Mr Trump’s first term, his administration imposed targeted sanctions on court officials. Those measures were lifted under President Joe Biden.
Washington announced new sanctions days after Mr Trump returned to office in January 2025.
ICC officials had spent months preparing for the possibility that the court itself would be sanctioned. They moved office computers away from Microsoft software to open-source alternatives and made new arrangements for banking and health insurance.
