WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is preparing to impose sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), potentially prohibiting most transactions with the Hague-based tribunal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing US officials and documents, the proposed measures would target the ICC as an institution rather than individual officials and could restrict its access to US dollars and the global financial system after a six- to seven-month grace period.
The move follows the ICC’s decision in November 2024 to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the Gaza conflict. Both have rejected the allegations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also urged countries to isolate the court, while Washington has already imposed sanctions on individual ICC officials. The proposed sanctions could disrupt the court’s banking, information technology, insurance and investigative operations, according to the report. The measures could be announced during this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York, although the timing remains uncertain.
READ ALSO: UN Criticises Latest US Sanctions on ICC Judges
The reported measures would mark a significant expansion of Washington’s campaign against the court. In February 2025, Trump signed an executive order authorising sanctions against ICC officials and others supporting investigations involving US or allied personnel. The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC in 2002.
The ICC issued the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on November 21, 2024, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe they bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and the allegations.
The United States has continued to expand sanctions against ICC personnel. On August 18, Washington imposed sanctions on the court’s president and a senior trial lawyer, extending an earlier campaign against individual ICC officials.
