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US Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Monday urged European countries and other signatories to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to impose sanctions on President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the administration’s efforts to undermine the court’s work.
“If European countries & other signatories to the International Criminal Court have any self-respect, they'd sanction Rubio & Trump for obstructing investigations of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's war crimes,” Van Hollen said in a post on the US social media platform “X”.
His remarks followed a report by The Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration was preparing sweeping sanctions against the ICC, escalating its campaign to weaken the court after it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
Proposed measures would target ICC transactions
Citing US officials and documents, the newspaper reported that the proposed sanctions would prohibit most transactions with the ICC following a six- to seven-month grace period.
The measures could prevent the court from conducting transactions in US dollars and exclude it from significant parts of the global financial system. Transactions involving communications services would reportedly be exempt.
Unlike existing measures targeting individual officials, the proposed sanctions would apply to transactions with the ICC itself, according to the report.
ICC has already sanctioned officials
The Trump administration has already sanctioned several ICC officials, including its president, Tomoko Akane, judges, deputy prosecutors and the prosecutor involved in the case concerning Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, accusing them of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
