TEHRAN — U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen on Monday called on European governments and signatories to the Rome Statute to impose sanctions on President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Maryland Democrat stated on social media that “self-respecting” European states must penalize top American officials for actively “obstructing investigations” into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war crimes.
This follows reports by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters that the White House is finalizing plans to blacklist the International Criminal Court as an institution.
Citing internal documents and government sources, the media outlets say the proposed executive order would prohibit nearly all financial transactions with the Hague tribunal after a six-month grace period.
Such measures would effectively sever the court from dollar clearing mechanisms, commercial banking, software licensing, and essential operations.
Systematic targeting of the Hague tribunal
Washington has already placed personal sanctions on 13 court figures, including ICC President Tomoko Akane, deputy prosecutors, and trial judges. Expanding penalties to the organization itself aims to paralyze daily administrative tasks, payroll distributions, and field inquiries.
The hostility intensified after the court issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Netanyahu and former War Minister Yoav Gallant over deliberate starvation tactics and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Rubio has vowed to dismantle the tribunal “brick by brick” to protect American and Israeli officials from accountability.
That posture stands in direct contrast to Rubio’s 2022 sponsorship of legislation encouraging the court to investigate non-member states when the target was Russia.
European inaction and Japanese caution
The sanctions threat has exposed severe friction among Western allies. Akane recently asked Japan, the largest contributor to the ICC budget, to leverage its ties with Washington and discourage neighboring states from withdrawing.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the measures unfortunate but avoided demanding their withdrawal, reflecting Tokyo’s reluctance to challenge its chief military sponsor.
European leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, issued statements affirming judicial independence.
However, the European Union has failed to activate protective mechanisms such as the Blocking Statute, leaving banks and contractors vulnerable to American coercion.
Shielding genocide and regional aggression
Washington’s assault on the tribunal comes amid unrelenting Israeli military action across the region. Israeli forces have killed over 73,900 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 21,700 children, while systematically destroying civilian infrastructure.
The regime’s military campaign, carried out with American weaponry and diplomatic cover, has expanded into illegal aggression against sovereign territory in Iran and attacks on regional Resistance forces, alongside direct U.S. military action in the war on Iran.
By threatening to bankrupt the court, Washington is attempting to institutionalize absolute impunity.
The effort demonstrates that American leadership views international legal frameworks as mere instruments of power, to be deployed against adversaries and destroyed whenever they address Israeli and Western atrocities.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: tehrantimes.com
