Rubio Says US Will Never Join ICC

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would never join the International Criminal Court (ICC) and would not allow it to exercise jurisdiction over US citizens.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Manila, Rubio said: "We are not members of that court. We never signed on to that treaty. They need to understand that if people want to sign on and be a part of that stupid organization, they can. But we are not going to be a part of it. And they are not going to apply their jurisdiction to Americans."

Rubio also said Washington would not tolerate any current or future attempts by the ICC to take action against US citizens.

His remarks came after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city's legal department was exploring whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be detained under an ICC arrest warrant should he attend the UN General Assembly in September.

President Donald Trump later said no one would be able to detain Netanyahu during visits to the United States. Mamdani subsequently acknowledged that New York City lacked the legal authority to take such action.

In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 on suspicion of the war crime of unlawfully deporting and transferring Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

(TASS, LUD)