US Vows to End ICC 'Threat' Against Americans, Warns of New Sanctions

The United States has declared an expansive campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC), characterizing the tribunal as an "intolerable threat" to Americans and accusing it of engaging in a "war" against Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted in a video message that the ICC and its allies are fighting a war against the U.S. not with conventional weapons, but through statutes and international law.

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The CPI and its allies are waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with statutes, pacts, and the force of what they call international law.

Rubio emphasized that the growing danger posed by the international court threatens all aspects of the U.S. political and legal system. He warned that inaction could leave Americans subject to the whims of foreign judges, potentially facing prosecution and imprisonment for actions taken in defense of their own country. The U.S. is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC.

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The danger posed by this international tribunal has not stopped growing. Today it threatens all aspects of our political and legal system.

The State Department announced that the campaign's objective is to systematically dismantle the ICC's capacity to operate and target U.S. military personnel or officials, or otherwise infringe upon American sovereignty. Potential measures include urging other nations to withdraw from the court, imposing travel bans, and enacting sanctions against ICC officials.

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If we stand idly by, we will all be at the mercy of foreign judges located thousands of miles away, exposed to the constant risk of being prosecuted, and even imprisoned, for the alleged crime of having defended their own country.

These actions follow a period of hostility between the U.S. government, particularly under the Trump administration, and the ICC. Several ICC judges, including the prosecutor, are already subject to U.S. sanctions. These sanctions prohibit their entry into the United States and block financial transactions under U.S. jurisdiction. The U.S. has largely framed these sanctions as a response to the ICC's investigations into Israel, a key U.S. ally, which have resulted in arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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The campaign will systematically disable the ICC's ability to operate, target U.S. military or officials, or otherwise threaten U.S. sovereignty.