WASHINGTON DC -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio targeted two top International Criminal Court officials with new sanctions Tuesday amid his campaign to “dismantle” the court, prompting strong pushback from the ICC and Europe.

Rubio announced in a statement he is imposing sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane, who is Japanese, and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, who is Senegalese.

“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” he said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the ICC said it “strongly rejects” the new sanctions, calling them “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution.”

The Trump administration has imposed a slew of sanctions against ICC officials for their attempts to investigate the United States and Israel, neither of which are members of the court. President Donald Trump’s criticism of the ICC goes back to his first term, when his administration targeted the court for seeking to investigate alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.

In November 2024, the court issued arrest warrants for several officials including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The court said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes during Israeli military operations in Gaza including “starvation as a method of warfare” and “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

Last month, Rubio announced a significant escalation of the administration’s efforts against the global court — a State Department-led, “whole-of-government campaign” to dismantle the ICC.

The ICC said Wednesday that “at present, nine of the eighteen Judges, both of the two Deputy-Prosecutors, the former Prosecutor and one staff member have been sanctioned by the United States.”

“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” it added.

International pushback

European Union leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa said they “stand firmly” with the court, its president, “and the officials who uphold its mission.”

“The ICC helps deliver justice to the victims of some of the world’s most horrific crimes,” Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, wrote on X. “To carry out this essential work, its judges and officials must be able to act independently and without external pressure.”

Tom Berendsen, the foreign minister of the Netherlands, where the ICC is headquartered, said the country “disapproves of the latest sanctions.” He said he has invited the ICC president “to discuss our continued support.”

Japan’s foreign ministry noted the sanctions against Akane and said it “has consistently supported the ICC, which is a permanent international criminal court, in its efforts to prosecute and punish the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and to uphold the rule of law.”

“From this standpoint, the announced measures are very unfortunate,” Toshihiro Kitamura, the foreign ministry press secretary, said Wednesday.

Pressure campaign on other countries

The US has asked other countries to join the pressure campaign and has threatened “increased scrutiny” against those that do not.

Rubio said Tuesday that he expects “more countries to join our campaign by ending their funding and participation in this politicized and unaccountable court.”

“The ICC’s ability to target American nationals and those of other non-States Parties must end,” he said, referencing countries that are not members of the court. “The Trump Administration stands ready to take additional measures, if necessary, to systematically dismantle the ICC until it is incapable of threatening American sovereignty.”

A US official said last month that countries “that partner with US law enforcement, host a US military presence, or benefit from the broader US security umbrella are being called upon to reject the ICC’s purported authority to prosecute American officials and servicemen.”

“We will watch with interest which nations join ranks with us against this threat to Americans who are willing to risk their lives to protect others,” they noted.

The US-backed interim government in Venezuela announced in late July it will pull out of the ICC. The foreign minister said that, under instruction from acting President Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela had informed the United Nations of its “firm and irrevocable decision” to withdraw from the court. He argued in a post on X that the “Court’s actions reflect a demonstrated geographical bias” by focusing on African and Latin American countries.

The State Department praised the decision.

“The so-called court has been ‘investigating’ Nicolas Maduro since 2018 with no result. The ICC has instead wasted its resources on investigating and charging persons from countries that have competent, independent judicial systems and which never submitted to the jurisdiction of the court,” the department said in a media note at the time.

Chad also announced in late July its decision to withdraw from the ICC, after the launch of the US campaign.

The ICC’s Presidency of the Assembly of States Parties noted both decisions “with concern,” saying the withdrawals “risk undermining the collective pursuit of justice and weakening global efforts to end impunity.”

The story has been updated with additional reporting.

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