The administration of US President Donald Trump has sharply intensified its long-standing dispute with the International Criminal Court (ICC), issuing a set of demands and warning that severe sanctions will follow if the court does not comply.
At the center of those demands is an unprecedented request for the ICC to amend the Rome Statute—its founding treaty—to guarantee that President Trump and his top officials can never be investigated or prosecuted by the court.
A senior US official confirmed that this ultimatum has been communicated to ICC member states, including close American allies, as well as to ICC leadership.
Washington has signaled that refusing these terms could lead to sanctions targeting additional ICC personnel and potentially the entire court, marking a significant escalation in US pressure on the institution.
The US position is tied to the bipartisan view, held for years, that the ICC oversteps by asserting jurisdiction over nationals of countries that are not signatories to the Rome Statute. The court, created in 2002, is designed as a last-resort tribunal with authority to prosecute high-level crimes, including those committed by heads of state.
In addition to seeking immunity for the US President and senior officials, the Trump administration has issued two other major demands: that the ICC drop its investigation of Israeli officials over the Gaza conflict and formally close its earlier probe into alleged crimes by US forces in Afghanistan.
These demands intersect with some of the court’s most prominent cases. In November, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri in connection with the Gaza war.
The Afghanistan inquiry, launched in 2020, included scrutiny of possible offenses by US personnel. While the court has deprioritized that aspect since 2021, the US is now insisting on its complete termination.
The threat to impose sweeping sanctions marks a new phase in Washington’s campaign to limit the ICC’s reach and shield American and allied leaders from international prosecution.
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