Marco Rubio announces sweeping financial sanctions against the International Criminal Court

To date, the administration has sanctioned 17 individuals with ties to the ICC, including judges and prosecutors. The latest move marks the first time the U.S. has gone after the institution itself.

"Our message is clear: The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC," Rubio said in a pre-recorded video message released Friday morning. "Both parties agree on this, but only President Trump has the resolve to take the action needed to end this threat once and for all."

In a statement Friday, the Netherlands-based court strongly condemned the U.S. sanctions as "an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order."

"This measure targets an independent judicial institution, created by treaty and entrusted by 125 States Parties with investigating and prosecuting genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression," the ICC added.

"It is an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the Court from doing what it was created to do."

ICC President Tomoko Akane, who was personally sanctioned by the Trump administration in August, said the court will continue to operate despite the new penalties.

The administration's concerns about U.S. personnel are not entirely hypothetical. In 2017, an ICC prosecutor sought authorization to investigate alleged war crimes committed by U.S. military and intelligence personnel in Afghanistan.

ICC judges initially rejected the request, but that decision was overturned on appeal in 2020, allowing the investigation to proceed. The court's prosecutor later de-prioritized alleged crimes involving U.S. personnel to focus on alleged crimes committed by the Taliban and ISIS-K.

Under the new sanctions, any ICC assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction will be frozen, while Americans, U.S. businesses and banks are generally barred from conducting transactions with the court.

The sanctions will not go into effect immediately. The Treasury Department has given the ICC a 180-day general license to maintain its operations, giving the court time to address U.S. concerns.

"Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC. And we expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American service members for their defense, to rein in this rogue court," Rubio 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 maintains that it can exercise jurisdiction over nationals of non-member states when they are accused of qualifying crimes committed on the territory of a state that has accepted the court's jurisdiction.