US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attacked the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a speech in Washington on Friday, arguing for a muscular foreign policy and against international law restraining US actions, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
Rubio's speech to the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention was his first set of prepared remarks since Republicans were routed in the midterm elections on November 3, Reuters said. AFP reported that he took aim at what he called the "weaponization of international law," calling it a tool of the elite, and issued a stark warning to the court in The Hague.
Source: AFP, Nov 13, 2026
The United States, Rubio said, would not "submit to the sterile vision of radical judges or soulless global bureaucrats," repeating the assertion he used to justify sanctions against the ICC announced last month — that the court would try to prosecute US officials or service members.
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
"Americans have never agreed to submit to the ICC's authority, but that court and its allies in the global bureaucracy have appointed themselves judge and jury and executioner of the international order," Rubio said.
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
Rubio suggested that if the court tried to enforce its rulings against Americans, Washington would respond with force. Quoting the Roman general Pompey, he said the US response would be: "Stop quoting laws to men with swords."
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
Sanctions take effect in April unless a deal averts them
The Trump administration has long been hostile to the Netherlands-based court, founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges, Reuters noted. The United States signed the Rome Statute that established the ICC but never ratified the treaty.
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
The court has received strong backing from most member states, which include all European Union countries and all members of the NATO alliance apart from the United States and Turkey, Reuters said.
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
Washington has denounced the court over arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and over an investigation into the actions of US soldiers in Afghanistan, which the ICC says is "deprioritized." The US sanctions, designed to stifle the court's ability to operate, will take effect in April unless supporters of the court can reach an agreement with the US to avert them, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
Iran war and international law
In the same speech, Rubio dismissed criticism that the Trump administration has broken international law by actions such as seizing Venezuelan then-President Nicolas Maduro and striking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that Washington says were carrying drugs, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
Rubio said the goal of the US-Israeli war against Iran was to prevent Tehran from ever developing a nuclear weapon, which he said was particularly urgent because Iran's "radical Shia clerics" had an "expansionist mentality." He contrasted this with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, whom he described as not expansionist: "I'm not excusing the terrible things that have happened there. I'm just saying he (Kim) is not expansionist. He's not trying to invade Japan or, you know, China or whatever."
Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026
What happens next: the sanctions clock runs to April. If no agreement is reached with the court's supporters by then, the US measures take effect, and the ICC — which is pursuing cases arising from wars including Gaza and Ukraine — will have to operate under direct US financial pressure. No ICC response to Friday's speech was reported by Reuters or AFP in their initial reports.