US sanctions ICC itself hours after ex-judge wins Nobel

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court as an institution on Friday. Until now Washington had targeted individual judges and prosecutors, so this marks a sharp escalation against the Hague-based tribunal. The announcement came hours after former ICC judge Navi Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.bbc+1

"We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a video posted to social media. "Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC."aljazeera+1

Grace period and exemptions

The Treasury Department added the court to its sanctions list under Executive Order 14203, which Trump signed in February 2025. The designation freezes ICC assets held in the United States or controlled by US persons. Treasury also issued four general licenses. One of them, General License 13, allows transactions needed to maintain or wind down court operations until 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 7, 2027. That covers payments from member states, salaries, health insurance, rent and utilities. The other licenses cover enterprise software and telecommunications services, pension transactions, and the care of detainees, including former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.military+2

Rubio said the measures were "structured" so that member states could "negotiate and present a solution" to US concerns. The State Department said the grace period could change depending on the "success or failure" of those efforts. The United States had already sanctioned 17 people under the order.news18+2

Washington's grievances include the court's arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as a past investigation into US troops in Afghanistan that has since been closed. Netanyahu welcomed the sanctions, calling the ICC "a political body".yahoo+1

Court and allies push back

The court called the sanctions "an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order". ICC President Tomoko Akane said the court would "continue to fully discharge its mandate". Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told Reuters the measures "must be condemned".cbc+2

Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Britain said in a joint statement that they "regret and strongly disagree" with the decision. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it "a serious blow to our collective pursuit of international criminal justice". The European Union said it was ready to take "any necessary measures" to protect the court's work.gulf-times+2

The court has spent months preparing for this possibility. It has moved office computers from Microsoft ↗ 2.38% software to open-source alternatives, and its registrar has urged the EU to be ready to use its blocking mechanism. Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University, told the BBC that if the court can no longer hold fair trials, detainees could eventually have to be released "as a matter of law".yahoo+1

A pointed coincidence

Pillay, an 85-year-old South African jurist, served on the ICC Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008. The Nobel committee said its award was meant to "issue a reminder" at a time when "judges and institutions of international law are under political attack". Rubio's statement did not mention Pillay or the prize.straitstimes+2