The United States is considering imposing sanctions as soon as this week against the entire International Criminal Court, putting the court’s day-to-day operations in jeopardy in retaliation for investigations of suspected Israeli war crimes, Reuters reports.
Washington has already imposed targeted sanctions on several prosecutors and judges at the court, but naming the court itself in the sanctions list would be a major escalation.
Six sources with knowledge of the matter, all speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue that has not been publicly announced, said a decision on such “entity sanctions” was expected soon.
A source said court officials had already held emergency internal meetings to discuss the impact of potential blanket sanctions. Two other sources said meetings had also been held with court member state diplomats.
One US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed that entity-wide sanctions were being weighed but did not elaborate on the timing of the possible move.
