United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has imposed sanctions on two judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, for directly engaging “in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent, including voting with the majority in favor of the ICC’s ruling against Israel’s appeal on December 15.”
Mr. Rubio, who said the sanction is pursuant to Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court,” noted that the “ICC has continued to engage in politicized actions targeting Israel, which set a dangerous precedent for all nations,” insisting that the US “will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject U.S. and Israeli persons to the ICC’s jurisdiction.”
A statement from the Office of the Spokesperson for the State Department, which communicated the sanctions, titled “Sanctioning ICC Judges Directly Engaged in the Illegitimate Targeting of Israel,” and dated December 18, 2025, stressed that the message of the US to the ICC has been clear: “the United States and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute and therefore reject the ICC’s jurisdiction.”
It also pointed out that the President Donald Trump administration “will continue to respond with significant and tangible consequences to the ICC’s lawfare and overreach,” restating that “All targets are being designated pursuant to section 1(a)(ii)(A) of Executive Order (E.O.) 14203.”
