{"id":2406,"date":"2026-10-09T20:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2406"},"modified":"2026-10-09T20:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:03:43","slug":"us-imposes-sanctions-on-icc-hours-after-former-judge-wins-nobel-peace-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2406","title":{"rendered":"US imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration imposed sanctions \u200bon the International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize, putting Washington on a diplomatic collision course \u200cwith European allies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ICC\u2019s deputy prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, condemned the sanctions and said they would not halt the tribunal\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has long been hostile to the court and has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges. Friday\u2019s move would go far further, by potentially punishing companies that provide services to the court itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans,\u201d Secretary of State \u200bMarco Rubio said in a statement reviewed by Reuters ahead of the official announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court. We \u200bwill ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off its resources and crippling its ability to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICC Deputy Prosecutor Khan told Reuters the \u2060sanctions \u201cmust be condemned\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sanctions are intended to undermine the rule of law internationally and the work that an independent judicial institution is doing,\u201d Khan said. \u201cOur work will continue across all \u200bour situations, our investigations and our prosecutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington has long been angry over ICC arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and over a past investigation into actions \u200bof US soldiers in Afghanistan which the ICC has since closed.<\/p>\n

The court, founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, counts 125 countries as member states, including all EU countries and all members of the NATO alliance apart from the United States and Turkey.<\/p>\n

It has received strong public backing in the past from member countries including major US allies, and is based in the Netherlands, an EU \u200band NATO member.<\/p>\n

Navi Pillay, the South African jurist who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her work in international criminal justice, served as a judge on the ICC\u2019s \u200bAppeals Chamber from 2003-2008. In its citation, the prize committee said it had sought to \u201cissue a reminder\u201d at a time when \u201cjudges and institutions of international law are under political attack\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn international legal system in \u200cwhich war \u2060criminals are held to account, and the victims of abuse see justice served is a precondition for a peaceful world,\u201d the committee said.<\/p>\n

Rubio said the sanctions had been structured to give the court and its member states an opportunity to address US concerns.<\/p>\n

He did not provide further details, but a senior State Department official said the US Treasury would issue a set of licenses \u201cto protect American interests\u201d, an apparent reference to temporary exemptions to some sanctions.<\/p>\n

<\/a>US expects allies to \u2018rein in the court\u2019<\/h3>\n

US sanctions typically bar all US-based companies from any work with a sanctioned \u200borganisation, forcing banks to shut accounts, insurers \u200bto end coverage and software companies to \u2060halt cooperation.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration previously imposed targeted sanctions on court officials during his first term, which were rescinded under President Joe Biden. Washington announced new sanctions just days after Trump returned to office in January 2025.<\/p>\n

Court officials have been preparing for months for the prospect of sanctions on teh court itself, shifting office computers from Microsoft software to open source equivalents and making new arrangements for banking and health \u200binsurance.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s registrar, Osvaldo \u2060Zavala Giler, called earlier this week for the EU to be prepared to use a so-called \u201cblocking mechanism\u201d that lets it shield European countries from the extraterritorial effects of sanctions.<\/p>\n

In his statement, Rubio said the United States had delayed its sanctions, hoping that the ICC and the countries party to its founding Rome Statute would address US concerns, but they had failed to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither the \u2060ICC will end \u200bits threats, or we will end the ICC. We expect our allies, many of whom are part of \u200bthe ICC and who rely on American service members for their defence, to rein in the court,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have structured this action to provide an opportunity for States Parties to negotiate and present a solution to address our \u200bconcerns. If these efforts do not bear fruit, we will continue to adjust accordingly,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration imposed sanctions \u200bon the International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize, putting Washington on a diplomatic collision course \u200cwith European allies. The ICC\u2019s deputy prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, condemned the sanctions and said they would not halt the tribunal\u2019s work. The Trump administration has long been hostile to the court and has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges. Friday\u2019s move would go far further, by potentially punishing companies that provide services to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}