Washington (QNN)- The Trump administration has threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) with new sanctions unless it amends its founding document to prevent investigations of the US president and senior officials, and drops its probe of Israeli politicians over war crimes in Gaza.
Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed source, that the US administration is also demanding the ICC shelve investigations of Israeli leaders over the Gaza genocide and end an investigation into war crimes conducted by US troops in Afghanistan.
If the court does not act on the three US demands, Washington may penalize more ICC officials and could sanction the court itself, the unnamed Trump administration official said.
According to recent reports, the oversight body of the ICC shunned US demands for the court to drop its investigation into Israeli war crimes and to amend the Rome Statute to prevent the prosecution of nationals from countries that do not recognise the court’s jurisdiction.
The Trump administration had reportedly tried to exert further pressure on the ICC in the lead-up to the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) event last week by calling on the court to drop its investigations into war crimes in Palestine and Afghanistan as a condition for lifting sanctions.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant last November for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza genocide.
In March 2020, prosecutors opened an investigation in Afghanistan that included crimes by US troops.
To force the war tribunal to drop these charges, the Trump administration has imposed financial and visa sanctions on the prosecutor, his two deputy prosecutors, six judges, the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine, and three Palestinian non-profit organisations.
"There is growing concern ... that in 2029 the ICC will turn its attention to the president, to the vice president, to the secretary of war and others, and pursue prosecutions against them," the Trump administration official said.
The United States and Israel are not parties to the Rome Statute that established the ICC in 2002 as a court of last resort. The court's mandate allows it to prosecute individuals for crimes committed by them or nationals under their command on the territory of a member state, including sitting heads of state.
“The solution is that they need to change the Rome Statute to make very clear that they don't have jurisdiction," the official said.
