ICC face yet another attack from Trump administration

Marco Rubio is waging an all-out war against the International Criminal Court (ICC), threatening that the body will learn ‘the full meaning of American resolve‘:

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

ICC under threat

CNN reported that the opinion piece by Rubio – which is hilariously behind a paywall – says that the US will:

use all the tools at our government’s disposal, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, we will dismantle the ICC—brick by brick, if necessary.

In his opinion piece, Rubio accused the ICC of being:

backed and run by a powerful network of leftist nongovernment organizations, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments united by their enmity toward the U.S.

Rubio claimed that the court threatens US sovereignty through its ability to prosecute American soldiers and officials.

Those tools include possible travel bans, visa revocations, and increased sanctions, a State Department official told CNN.

Rubio continued:

We will watch with interest which nations join ranks with us against this threat to Americans who are willing to risk their lives to protect others.

Hague Invasion Act not a joke anymore

Meanwhile, the director of Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN), Raed Jarrar told TRT World that

Bush’s ‘Hague Invasion Act’ is not a joke anymore.

Jarrar noted that what was once dismissed as a joke in Washington is now being taken seriously under the Trump administration. And, Jarrar made it clear that he considered Rubio’s threats against the ICC as a signal of a dangerous escalation that makes the unthinkable seem all too real.

Further, Jarrar warned that the administration’s hostility toward international law has reached unprecedented levels, adding that the U.S. is using sanctions, threats, and pressure campaigns to go after the court.

The law in question, officially known as the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, was signed by George W. Bush in 2001 and authorises the U.S. president to protect American military forces against criminal prosecution from the ICC.

Of course, Jarrar also noted that the U.S. could itself face ICC prosecution for aiding and abetting genocide in Gaza, as well as for obstruction of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute.

Jarrar said:

The United States can and should be prosecuted by the ICC under two paths. … The United States aiding and abetting Israeli genocide in Gaza counts as a path. … The other track is Article 70 which actually gives the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute officials in countries even those countries who are not members of the Rome Statute in case they are engaged in acts of obstruction and threatening of the court itself. And that is exactly what this administration is doing.

ICC upheld by vassal states

Last month, three ICC judges sued Trump and his administration over sanctions imposed on them last year, arguing the measures were unlawful.

However, the court has taken no steps to investigate U.S. personnel in recent years, Reuters reported.

In March 2020, ICC prosecutors opened an investigation in Afghanistan that included looking into possible crimes by U.S. troops, but since 2021 it has deprioritized the role of the U.S. and focused ⁠on alleged crimes committed by the Afghan government and Taliban forces.

Reuters found the Trump administration backed sanctions against ICC officials in part to head off any future attempts to hold the Republican president or his officials accountable for U.S. military action overseas.

The UK is a founding member of the ICC, but as a vassal state of the US, it will likely just fall in line with whatever Rubio has planned.

Featured image via the Canary