Trump administration prepares sweeping sanctions on ICC over Israel, US troop cases

The International Criminal Court, which tracks war crimes and serious offences around the world, is going through its biggest crisis. US President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to impose strict economic and administrative sanctions on the entire ICC. According to sources, the US has drawn up a strategy to bring the court fully within the scope of sanctions. A final decision on this could be taken at a meeting of the UN General Assembly. If this happens, the global body's day-to-day functioning, funding, technical services and various investigations under way around the world could come to a complete halt.

The ICC was established in 2002. Its main task is to conduct impartial investigations into war crimes, genocide and serious crimes against humanity around the world, and to prosecute the guilty. When a country's government or its justice system is unable or unwilling to investigate such serious matters, the ICC steps in and takes action. Notably, the US itself is not an official member state of the court, yet the Trump administration has been putting continuous pressure on the ICC, which has pushed tensions between the US and the ICC to a peak.

At the root of this entire dispute are cases linked to Israeli leaders and US soldiers. The Trump administration has been a strong opponent of the ICC from the start. US officials have clearly demanded that the ICC immediately withdraw the arrest warrants it has issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some other Israeli leaders. In addition, the US is also pressing for the ICC to completely close the old investigation it had opened into possible war crimes by US soldiers during the Afghanistan war. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had made a direct appeal to other countries in July to leave the ICC as well. Earlier, the US had already imposed sanctions on some ICC judges and lawyers individually, but now there is an attempt to bring the entire institution under control or render it ineffective.

These possible US sanctions would severely affect the ICC's day-to-day and technical functioning. If the US Treasury Department imposes sanctions on the entire ICC, it would become a legal offence for US citizens or any company to provide money, goods, software or any service to the ICC without special permission. Since most banks around the world depend on the US banking and financial system, banks worldwide would also halt all their transactions with the ICC. This would directly affect the court's IT services, data security, insurance coverage, appointment of new investigators and routine banking transactions. It would even become impossible to pay the regular salaries of American staff working at the court.

This clash between Trump and the ICC is not new. Trump had taken an aggressive stance against the ICC since his first term. When Trump was re-elected president in 2024, the dispute flared up further. Meanwhile, the ICC took strict action against the Israeli leadership, after which the Trump administration became even more aggressive. Human rights organisations around the world have expressed concern over this US decision to choke the institution that delivers justice globally. Experts say that this move by Trump has put the existence of international law and the court's independence at risk.