US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday pledged to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court (ICC), urging other nations to join the effort as the Trump administration escalates its campaign against the global tribunal.
Rubio accused the ICC of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with the force of so‑called international law.”
The administration’s hostility toward the ICC dates back to Trump’s first term, when the court sought to investigate alleged war crimes by US forces in Afghanistan, reports CNN.
In its second term, Washington has imposed sanctions on ICC officials over probes targeting the US and Israel.
The State Department now leads a “whole‑of‑government campaign” to dismantle the ICC, pressing countries worldwide to withdraw support and warning of possible cuts to US assistance for those that refuse.
“Nations that decline to reject the ICC’s false authority while relying on US aid are likely to come under increased scrutiny,” a department official said.
Rubio, writing separately in the Wall Street Journal, said, “Using all the tools at our government’s disposal, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, we will dismantle the ICC—brick by brick, if necessary.” Officials cited measures including travel bans, visa revocations, and expanded sanctions.
Countries hosting US forces or benefiting from its security umbrella are being urged to repudiate the ICC’s jurisdiction over American officials and servicemen.
“We will watch with interest which nations join ranks with us against this threat to Americans who risk their lives to protect others,” the official said.
Senior US diplomats, including the secretary, deputy secretary, and ambassadors, are contacting governments to build support for isolating the ICC and cutting off its funding. The administration is also pressing non‑member states to leverage their diplomatic networks in parallel.
In his opinion piece, Rubio accused the ICC of being “backed and run by a powerful network of leftist nongovernment organizations, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments united by their enmity toward the US.”
He dismissed allegations that US deportations to El Salvador and lethal boat strikes on alleged narco‑terrorists violated international law and rejected calls by Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) for the ICC to investigate alleged US war crimes in Iran.
DAWN’s executive director Omar Shakir told CNN that Rubio mischaracterized the group’s position, saying it had called for investigations into “all possible war crimes carried out in the war.”
Shakir added, “It begs the question: does Secretary Rubio believe US personnel should be investigated for war crimes in Iran?”
“History will judge governments on whether they defended the institutions designed to safeguard international law,” Shakir said.
“It is not the ICC that Rubio is dismantling brick by brick—but the rules‑based international order that grew out of the ashes of World War II.”
