The U.S. government has intensified its pressure on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigating alleged war crimes involving American and Israeli officials. On Wednesday, the State Department announced sanctions against four ICC officials, including two judges and two prosecutors, claiming they played key roles in efforts to prosecute U.S. and Israeli nationals.

As a result of these sanctions, any assets held by the targeted individuals in U.S. jurisdictions will be frozen. This action is part of a broader series of measures taken by the Trump administration against the ICC, which is based in The Hague and is the world’s first international war crimes tribunal. The U.S. is not a member of the court.

The officials sanctioned include judges Kimberly Proust from Canada and Nicolas Guillou from France, as well as prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan from Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang from Senegal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated, "These individuals are foreign persons who directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation."

Rubio emphasized that the administration would continue to take necessary actions to protect U.S. troops, sovereignty, and allies from what he described as the ICC’s "illegitimate and baseless actions."

The State Department noted that Proust was sanctioned for her ruling that authorized an ICC investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan, which was later dropped. Guillou faced sanctions for his decision to authorize the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in connection with Israel’s military actions against Hamas in Gaza. Khan and Niang were penalized for continuing the investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza, including upholding the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

The ICC responded to the sanctions, calling them "a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution" and an affront to the court’s member states and the international order. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed concern over the U.S. targeting of the ICC, stating, "We firmly believe that the ICC is a key pillar of international criminal justice, and we respect their work."

Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. sanctions, describing them as a strong measure against what he called a "mendacious smear campaign against the State of Israel and the IDF."

This latest move continues a pattern of actions taken by the Trump administration against the ICC, which began during his first term. Previous sanctions imposed on the ICC were lifted by President Joe Biden’s administration in early 2021.