Trump to Sanction Entire ICC Over Netanyahu Arrest Warrant

The Trump administration is preparing to impose sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court in The Hague, a move that could sever the tribunal from the global financial system and significantly disrupt its operations, according to recent reports in The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

According to American officials and documents that have been disclosed, the sanctions will apply to the entire court, not merely to individual judges and prosecutors as has been done until now, and will prohibit most transactions with it after a grace period of six to seven months. The measure could prevent the court from conducting transactions in U.S. dollars and disconnect it from large portions of the international financial infrastructure.

An exception is expected for communications-related transactions. The official announcement may be released as early as this week, during the UN General Assembly in New York or in the days following.

The move represents a significant escalation in the American campaign against the court, which intensified after the issuance of international arrest warrants in November 2024 against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on suspicion of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war. The United States and Israel are not members of the court and do not recognize its jurisdiction.

Sources in Washington make clear that the administration wants the court to withdraw the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, and also to halt the investigation concerning American forces' activities in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has led the campaign, declaring previously that the court poses a threat to U.S. sovereignty and to its allies, and that Washington will use every tool at its disposal to "dismantle the ICC brick by brick, if necessary."

Trump and Netanyahu at the White House this week (Photo: GPO)

To date, the administration has imposed personal sanctions on several judges and prosecutors at the court, including former chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who was removed from his position in summer 2026 amid sexual harassment allegations that he denies, court president Tomoko Akane, and other officials. The personal sanctions include asset freezes and entry bans to the United States, and have complicated their daily operations.

Experts note that sanctions on the entire organization could severely damage routine operations: payments to employees, IT services, insurance, hiring investigators, and managing bank accounts. International banks and companies tend to avoid risk and over-comply with American sanctions, due to their dependence on the dollar system. The court, which employs approximately 900 staff from some 100 countries and counts 125 member states, could struggle to function.

In Europe, calls have been heard in the past to activate a "blocking statute" that would prevent European companies from complying with such American sanctions, but it is unclear whether there is sufficient support for such a move. The tension between Washington and The Hague has continued for years, and intensified particularly since the arrest warrants against the Israeli leaders.

President Donald Trump acknowledged previously that the sanctions on senior officials of the International Criminal Court are intended first and foremost to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "There's no information that they're going after me," Trump told reporters at the White House. "That could maybe happen in the future, but the steps we took weren't designed to protect me, they were designed to protect Bibi and other people."

The planned move, if fully implemented, would set a precedent, sanctions on an entire international institution dealing with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. As of now, no final official announcement has been issued from the State Department or the U.S. Treasury, and the precise details may change.