America imposes additional sanctions on the International Criminal Court hours after the Nobel Peace Prize announcement

On Friday, the United States imposed additional sanctions on the International Criminal Court, just hours after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the court's former judge, Navi Pillay.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement: “President (Donald) Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans. For this reason, today the United States is imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court. We will ban dealings with this rogue court, cut off its resources and paralyze its ability to operate.”

The International Criminal Court issued a statement condemning the sanctions, stressing that it would continue its activities “with determination and steadfastness.”

The court’s statement said: “It is an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and prevent the court from performing the tasks for which it was established. It is an attack on the rule of law and on the very foundations on which the international legal system is based, and it violates the simple principle that no one is above the law.”

Relations between the United States and the International Criminal Court have been tense for a long time, as Washington strongly criticized the court's decision to issue two arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

During Trump's first presidential term, the court angered the United States when it allowed the opening of an investigation into allegations that the US armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had committed war crimes in Afghanistan, before the court later closed that investigation.

The United States is not a member of the ICC, and has challenged the court's jurisdiction over its actions related to Israel.

The Court was established in The Hague in 2002 to exercise international jurisdiction over crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and includes 125 states parties to the treaty establishing it, known as “States Parties”. With the exception of the United States and Turkey, all NATO member states are also parties to the ICC.

“Our message is clear: The United States and its people are not subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,” Rubio said in the statement. “Either the court will put an end to its threats, or we will put an end to the court. We expect our allies, many of whom are members of the court and rely on the American military to defend them, to rein in this court.”

Rubio added that the US sanctions were designed to give the ICC and its member states an opportunity “to negotiate and present a solution that addresses our concerns.”

The US State Department did not provide further details regarding the nature of these sanctions.