Trump imposes sanctions on ICC, accusing it of targeting US and Israel

Donald Trump has signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against individuals and their families who assist the international criminal court (ICC), accusing the body of “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.

Trump has been a vocal critic of the ICC since it issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, along with several Hamas leaders simultaneously.

The signing of the order coincides with Netanyahu’s visit to the US Capitol, which included an Oval Office meeting earlier this week.

It was unclear how quickly the Trump administration would announce names of people sanctioned.

Since facing backlash in Washington for the warrants, the ICC had been bracing itself for retaliatory moves by Trump.

The threat of US sanctions has loomed over the court for months, with multiple ICC sources saying that the court’s leadership feared Trump would not wait for legislation to pass but rather would issue a swift executive order creating the legal basis for multiple rounds of sanctions.

Officials described it as a “worst case scenario” that the US would impose sanctions against the institution in addition to measures targeting individuals.

Trump has previously argued that the ICC had “no jurisdiction, no legitimacy and no authority” in the US during his first term as president.