The United States is considering imposing sanctions against the entire International Criminal Court (ICC), putting the court's day-to-day operations in jeopardy in retaliation for investigations of suspected Israeli war crimes.
According to an exclusive Reuters report, a decision on such "entity sanctions" was expected as soon as this week. Sources quoted in the report said the court officials and court member state diplomats had already held emergency internal meetings to discuss the impact of potential blanket sanctions.
According to a US official quoted by Reuters, entity-wide sanctions were being considered. However, the source did not elaborate on the timing of the possible move.
Washington has already imposed targeted sanctions on several court prosecutors and judges, but naming the court itself on the sanctions list would be a major escalation.
A State Department spokesperson accused the court of asserting what it said was its "purported jurisdiction" over US and Israeli personnel and said that Washington was going to take further steps, although the spokesperson did not say exactly what.
