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US sanctions on ICC judges 'blatant complicity in Israeli war crimes, genocide': Iran FM spox

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 21 August 2025 4:18 PM

The spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has censured the United States' announcement of a new round of sanctions targeting members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), stating that the measure attests to Washington's complicity with the Israeli regime in the bloody military campaign against Palestinians.

"The United States' imposition of sanctions on four more ICC judges (of Canadian, Senegalese, Fijian, French nationalities) for addressing Israel's atrocity crimes is not only an unprecedented assault on justice but a blatant complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Palestine," Esmaeil Baghaei wrote in a post published on his official account on the social media platform X on Thursday.

He added that the latest assault on ICC judges epitomizes a gross abuse of power, granting Israel absolute impunity, licensing the regime's further atrocities, and gravely imperiling international peace and security.

Such brazen illegality lays bare the true essence of 'rules-based order': a lawless framework purposed to serve their whims in full contempt for any recognized rule of int'l law or human ethics.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the administration of President Donald Trump was adding two judges and two prosecutors to the list of ICC members who have been sanctioned.

"The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel," Rubio said in a statement.

The step marks the most recent example of a pressure campaign directed at the court that had previously issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders concerning war crimes in Gaza.

The International Criminal Court had earlier released arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The new sanctions target Kimberly Prost of Canada, Nicolas Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.

Following the US State Department announcement, the court on Wednesday denounced the expanded US sanctions as a "flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution" and the victims of war crimes around the world and said it would continue its work "without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat".

At least 62,192 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 157,114 individuals have been injured in the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry of Gaza.