Above photo: AP Photo/Peter Dejong.
The US is pressuring allied nations to reject the court’s authority or ‘face retaliation’.
The White House has launched a sweeping campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a drive to shield officials and soldiers from any prosecution over war crimes committed abroad, US State Secretary Marco Rubio announced on 13 July.
Rubio cast the campaign against the ICC as a “defense of US sovereignty,” dismissing the ICC as “a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats” waging “a war against our country… with statutes and compacts and the force of so-called international law.”
The International Criminal Court seeks to become the unaccountable arbiter of a new global law — empowered to prosecute and arrest our citizens at will and existentially threaten American sovereignty.
We will teach the ICC the full meaning of American resolve. pic.twitter.com/2egHK1jA98
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 13, 2026
Rubio said US soldiers and border agents would otherwise face prosecution “for the so-called crime of defending their own country,” vowing that if the court and its allies “believe they can deprive us of our sovereignty, we will teach them the full meaning of American resolve.”
The State Secretary and other top US officials are reportedly pressuring countries that host US troops, partner with US law enforcement, or benefit from the US security umbrella to reject the court’s authority, warning that nations that refuse will face increased scrutiny.
Officials indicated that various measures are being considered to address the court, such as travel bans, visa revocations, expanded sanctions against the ICC and its affiliates, and diplomatic efforts to persuade other countries to withdraw from the court.
For over a decade, the ICC has been the target of a sustained campaign of sabotage orchestrated by the US and Israel, specifically designed to derail sensitive investigations into war crimes in occupied Palestine and Afghanistan.
Efforts to dismantle the court’s authority involve a mix of diplomatic pressure and direct personal retaliation against high-ranking officials.
Washington hit the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, sitting ICC judges, and UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese with what officials described as “terrorist-grade sanctions.”
Three of the sanctioned judges sued Trump and his top officials in a New York federal court in June, accusing the administration of “retaliation.”
The pressure has yielded results inside the court itself, as the ICC’s executive bureau moved in July to fast-track Khan’s potential dismissal.
Former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda revealed in May that the Mossad had waged a years-long intimidation campaign against her, including threats to her life, to force her to drop the Palestine investigation.
