US Imposes Sanctions on ICC's President, Prosecutor Over Israel War Crimes Probe

Washington DC: The United States has moved to sanction the International Criminal Court's president along with a senior prosecutor connected to the investigation into Israel's war crimes committed during the Gaza war.

The announcement came from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who denounced the Hague-based tribunal as a deeply politicised institution that has repeatedly overreached its authority through what he called malicious conduct. The individuals named — ICC president Tomoko Akane of Japan and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal — were sanctioned.

The sanctions is a part of the Trump administration against the ICC. According to the US State department, the broader aim is to strip the court of its ability to function, pursue American service members or officials, or otherwise interfere with US sovereign authority.

Rubio has additionally called on all 125 nations that belong to the ICC to sever ties with the organisation entirely. Trump has previously framed his opposition to the court as rooted in concerns over the risk it poses to Israel.

This action follows the US government's earlier sanctioning of ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, who had obtained arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence chief Yoav Gallant over Gaza war crimes. Trump had gone a step further in 2025, sanctioning the court as an institution via executive order, accusing it of taking illegitimate and unfounded action against both the US and Israel.

Rubio stopped short of detailing the specific cases behind the latest sanctions, though Israeli media reports indicate Seye is also involved in probing Israeli funding tied to illegal West Bank settlements and the supply of weapons to settlers there. Israeli officials had earlier cautioned domestic media that the court might be preparing additional arrest warrants — potentially against as many as five more ministers and senior military officials — over violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank.

In total, the US has now sanctioned at least 11 ICC officials, with the broader set of cases also touching on investigations into alleged conduct by American troops in Afghanistan. Both the US and Israel remain outside the ICC's membership and do not recognise its authority.

The sanctions have drawn legal opposition as well — four human rights organisations sued Trump last week over the ICC sanctions, arguing in their filing that the measures block war crime victims from accessing justice.