Reuters: US demands ICC promise not to prosecute Trump, threatens sanctions

Presidential Administration Donald Trump has threatened new sanctions against the International Criminal Court unless it amends and guarantees that it will not investigate the activities of the Republican president and his top officials. Reuters reports said an unnamed representative of the Trump administration.

"There is a growing concern that in 2029 the ICC will turn its attention to the president, vice president, defense minister and others and start prosecuting them. This is unacceptable, and we will not allow it," he said.

The source did not specify which issues, in the opinion of the US presidential administration, could be the subject of an ICC investigation. But he referred to "open talks" in the international legal community that the court could launch such an investigation.

In this regard, the United States demands that the Court amend the founding document and provide guarantees that there will be no investigations. The administration has also put forward two other demands: to end the investigation against Israeli leaders in connection with the war in Gaza and to officially complete the investigation into US troops in Afghanistan.

If the Court does not fulfill these demands, Washington may impose sanctions on other ICC officials and impose sanctions against the court itself, the unnamed official said. According to him, the United States has informed the ICC of the demands.

"The solution is to amend the Rome Statute to make it clear that they do not have jurisdiction (to open an investigation – ed.)," the official said.

• In June 2025, the Trump administration imposed sanctions against four judges of the International Criminal Court for "illegal and unjustified actions" against America or Israel. But the court rejected them.