US to impose fresh sanctions on ICC, banning transactions with ‘rogue court’

US President Donald Trump’s administration imposes sanctions on the International Criminal Court, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize, putting Washington on a diplomatic collision course with European allies.

The ICC’s deputy prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, condemns the sanctions and says they will not halt the tribunal’s work.

The Trump administration has long been hostile to the court and has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges. Today’s move will go far further, by potentially punishing companies that provide services to the court itself.

“President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio says in a statement reviewed by Reuters ahead of the official announcement. “That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court. We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate.”

ICC Deputy Prosecutor Khan tells Reuters the sanctions “must be condemned.”

“The sanctions are intended to undermine the rule of law internationally and the work that an independent judicial institution is doing,” Khan says. “Our work will continue across all our situations, our investigations and our prosecutions.”

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 of US soldiers in Afghanistan which the ICC has since closed.