Secretary of State Marco Rubio took the ongoing battle between the United States and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to an entirely new level Friday by announcing broad new sanctions against the international body that describes its mission as "Trying individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression."
In the past, the U.S. has levied sanctions against individual ICC judges and prosecutors, but this time around the warning is for the entire organization itself. And Rubio hinted that Washington may just be getting started.
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling their ability to operate against us,” Rubio said in announcing the move. “The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC.”
That's a pretty significant escalation from prior warnings.
The Trump administration has already sanctioned numerous ICC officials over the court's efforts to assert jurisdiction over Americans and Israelis. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year for "war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, including the use of starvation as a weapon and directing attacks against civilians."
Friday's action by Rubio targets the institution itself, potentially cutting off its access to American companies and the entire financial system of the United States.
Today, the Trump Administration is sanctioning the ICC. This action should encourage our Allies within the Court to work for solutions to end this threat to U.S. sovereignty forever. https://t.co/D86dCqLUaZ
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) October 9, 2026
Secretary Rubio framed the fight as a matter of American sovereignty.
“For decades now, both Republicans and Democrats have rejected the idea that the International Criminal Court has any power to prosecute American citizens,” he said. “We don't need that court, and we don't want it.”
Rubio argued that ICC was just getting started when it issued the Netanyahu warrant. “They want to prosecute Border Patrol agents that are protecting our nation's borders, and they want to prosecute our elected leaders that are ensuring our national security,” he said.
“They want more power, and they want it at the expense of our sovereignty as a nation," Rubio added.
And he had more than just the ICC in his sights, warning our "allies" that they can't expect to work with the ICC while relying on the U.S. for their military and defense needs.
“We expect our allies ... to rein in this rogue court,” he said. “If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC piece by piece, until Americans are threatened no longer.”
The ICC has, in response, condemned the sanctions and vowed to continue its work. But Rubio's message Friday was pretty clear: the U.S. is done with the small potatoes game of punishing the people running the court. We're now prepared to squeeze the sham court itself.
And he wasn't exactly subtle about it, concluding, “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.”