⚡️🇺🇸Ⓜ️🇮🇱 — The Trump administration is preparing to impose sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court, marking a sharp escalation in Washington's efforts to dismantle the institution following its issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC's investigations also target two far-right members of Netanyahu's government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, over West Bank settlement expansion — WSJ.

➡️ According to internal documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal and US officials, the measures would move beyond targeting specific personnel to freezing institutional transactions after a six-to-seven-month grace period, exempting only communication services, potentially cutting the ICC off from US dollar transactions and the global financial system. The final decision and announcement may be finalized as early as this week during the United Nations General Assembly meeting or in the subsequent days, supported by statements from US Secretary Rubio, who in July outlined a wide-ranging campaign to dismantle the court "brick by brick" because it targets nonmember states like the US and Israel.

The US frames the ICC's actions against nonmember state officials as a violation of state sovereignty, contrasting with a 2022 Senate resolution co-sponsored by Rubio that backed the ICC's investigation into Russian actions in Ukraine, which led to a 2023 arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.

➡️ This new round follows prior US restrictions against specific individuals within the court, including its president, Tomoko Akane, several judges, two deputy prosecutors, and the lead prosecutor handling the case against Israeli officials, alongside former Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, whom the ICC ousted in July over sexual assault allegations.

➡️ International backers of the court, including Japan and the European Union, have pledged protection in response to these financial pressures, with the EU potentially preparing regulatory measures to force European banks to continue processing the court's operations.

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