Trump prepares to sanction the ICC as a whole institution over Netanyahu arrest warrant, cutting it off from dollar transactions

From the Newshound archive · first published 26 September 2026.

President Donald Trump's administration has drawn up sweeping sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court as a whole institution — going beyond the existing penalties on individual judges and prosecutors — that would bar American citizens and businesses from transacting with the court in any form and sever its access to the global financial system. The package, which could be unveiled at any moment, aims to pressure the ICC into withdrawing its arrest warrants for Israeli leaders including Benjamin Netanyahu and shelving a previous investigation into US military personnel in Afghanistan. ICC deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said the court has already taken measures to limit the blow.

South Africa's foreign minister Ronald Lamola told a UN gathering that institution-wide sanctions 'could fundamentally disrupt' the court's operations.

Trump has called the ICC 'evil' and a 'rogue institution', urging nations to withdraw — but only the tiny Pacific island Nauru has done so to date.

Were the US Treasury to impose entity-wide sanctions, the court's IT contracts, insurance, investigator hiring and routine financial transactions would all be affected, as banks typically err on the side of over-compliance with American sanctions.