Rubio vows to dismantle International Criminal Court brick by brick

Marco Rubio said the United States would "dismantle" the International Criminal Court "brick by brick, if necessary," as the State Department launched a sweeping campaign to "systematically disable" the court's ability to operate and to target American servicemen or officials. The department framed the ICC as an "intolerable threat" to U.S. sovereignty and said Rubio wanted other countries to join the effort.

The court in The Hague is the world's first and only permanent international criminal court, with jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. The new U.S. offensive goes beyond a single dispute over one case: it places Washington in open conflict with the only standing tribunal built to pursue the worst international crimes, just as the United States often invokes legal norms when condemning abuses by adversaries.

The confrontation sharpened after the ICC issued an arrest warrant in 2024 for Benjamin Netanyahu and continued to pursue matters involving U.S. and Israeli conduct. Washington has already used sanctions under Executive Order 14203, and the State Department's sanctions record shows actions in 2025 and 2026 that targeted ICC personnel, including judges and deputy prosecutors. The roster includes Karim Khan, Kimberly Prost, Nicolas Guillou, Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang, underscoring how far the pressure campaign has gone inside the court itself.

Human Rights Watch says the ICC is essential to the international peace and security architecture and describes it as a court of last resort. Amnesty International said in 2025 that Trump's sanctions sent the message that Israel is above the law. The ICC rejected the sanctions announced in August 2025 as a serious attack on an independent judicial institution.

The wider pressure has not been limited to Washington. In June 2026, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger deposited formal notifications withdrawing from the Rome Statute, a sign of growing strain on the court's authority and the coalition of states that still backs it. For the United States, the effort to cripple the ICC raises a sharper question than one clash with one prosecutor: whether Washington is further isolating itself from the international legal order it regularly asks others to respect.