Rubio Sanctions the Entire International Criminal Court as Washington and 28 Allies Blame Iran for the RAF Fairford Plot

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court as an institution. The order blocks ICC property under US jurisdiction and bars US persons from dealing with the court, with Treasury licences allowing six months to wind down existing transactions. Earlier US sanctions targeted individual judges and prosecutors. This one targets the court itself.

“America never joined the court. We don’t need it. And we don’t want it,” Rubio said. “We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate.” The ICC called it “an attempt to obstruct justice” and “an assault on the rule of law.”

The timing

The sanctions came the same week the Nobel Peace Prize went to Navi Pillay, a former ICC judge and UN human rights chief. The President called the award an “indelible stain on Norway.”

The ICC has 125 member states, including every European Union country, Britain, Canada, Japan and Australia. Banks, auditors and IT providers that serve the court now face US penalties if they keep doing so. On a 10 October call, Rubio defended the “necessity” of the sanctions to Japan’s foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi. On the same call he pledged US cooperation in a murder case in Okinawa, where a US Marine was arrested on 4 October over the killing of a local woman. US personnel on Okinawa are under a month-long curfew and alcohol ban.

Iran and RAF Fairford

On 12 October the US, Britain and 27 other countries issued a joint statement backing Britain’s attribution of a 27 September incident at RAF Fairford to Iran. The base in Gloucestershire hosts deployments of US B-1 bombers. The statement condemns Iran’s “use of violent attacks, including the acts of lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and other hybrid activities.”

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the plot was “highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran,” with the Revolutionary Guards “almost certainly” directing it. Seven men were arrested and released on bail. Iran’s ambassador denied involvement. Details of the plot haven’t been made public.

Why it matters

The two moves pull in opposite directions with allies. On Iran, Washington is leading a coalition of 29 governments. On the ICC, it is penalising an institution most of those same governments belong to and fund. European capitals will have to decide whether to shield the court’s banks and suppliers from US sanctions, as the EU has done before with blocking rules against US measures on Iran and Cuba.

For Congress, the ICC order is an executive action under emergency powers. It doesn’t need a vote, and there’s been no move to block it.