U.S. slaps sweeping sanctions on International Criminal Court

The U.S. government on Friday imposed comprehensive sanctions on the International Criminal Court, or ICC, blocking it from using U.S. currency, tech companies, and financial services. The United States has not consented to the jurisdiction of the international legal body, which hears cases of genocide and war crimes, but 125 other countries are ICC member states. Concerns that the court would attempt to prosecute U.S. officials and servicemembers prompted the sanctions, according to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The sanctions give American companies and individuals six months to close any ongoing business with the court. The U.S. government said the six-month period would also give time for the court and its member nations to demonstrate progress on U.S. areas of concern, which could lead to adjustments or exceptions to the sanctions.

The ICC said it would not be deterred from its mission, but it needed the help of its member states to keep operating. The sanctions were an attempt to obstruct justice and strike at the foundations of the international legal order, the court said.

Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom also released a joint statement saying the U.S. sanctions would undermine important prosecution of international crimes. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked both Trump and Rubio. Netanyahu is under an active arrest warrant from the ICC on charges including crimes against humanity over his actions in the Israel-Hamas war. He said the ICC was not a court, but a politicized body that threatened law-abiding democracies’ sovereignty.

How did we get here? The United States has had an increasingly combative relationship with the court for years. The White House in early 2025 announced initial sanctions on the court, saying the court wrongly claimed jurisdiction over America and its allies, including Israel, and arguing that it treated them unfairly. Since then, the U.S. government has sanctioned 17 ICC judges and officials.

The new sanctions also came hours after former ICC judge Navanethem Pillay received the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, in part for her role chairing the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Netanyahu condemned the award, saying Pillay was a bigot who built her career by lying about the Jewish state. He accused her of enabling a corrupt prosecutor’s case against Israel at the ICC. U.S. President Donald Trump also reposted a statement saying Pillay hated Israel and America and had no credibility.

Dig deeper: Read my report on Pillay’s peace prize.