The United States has warned the International Criminal Court against prosecuting American service members, government officials and civilians, stating that it is not a party to the Rome Statute and has never consented to the ICC’s authority.

A letter dated June 29 from Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general of the United States, addressed to Tomoko Akane, president of the ICC, described the ICC’s attempts to assert any authority over Americans as “illegitimate, unlawful and a direct affront to the sovereignty of the United States.”

Mr Blanche stated that despite well-established principles, the ICC has, several times, acted in “an increasingly lawless and illegitimate manner, repeatedly asserting jurisdiction over non-consenting countries, disregarding its own complementarity requirement and pursuing investigations that appear driven as much by political pressure and institutional self-interest as by legal merit”.

“Its record of selective enforcement and credible allegations of internal misconduct raise serious doubts about the ICC’s impartiality, credibility, and legitimacy. The United States will not recognise or submit to the authority of a body that claims powers it does not possess and exercises the authority it purports to have in a selective manner, untethered to fairness or legal principle,” the attorney general said.

He explained that the U.S. Congress made the American position unmistakably clear in 2002 by passing the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, which repudiated the ICC’s jurisdiction over U.S. persons, including U.S. service members, government officials, and civilians.

According to the acting attorney general, the statute prohibited any form of cooperation with the ICC and authorised the U.S. president to use all means necessary and appropriate to secure the release of any U.S. person detained pursuant to any ICC warrant or request.

“This authority will be taken seriously and, if required, fully exercised to protect our people. Nor will the United States cooperate with any ICC investigation, inquiry, summons or proceeding,” Mr Blanche stated. “We will neither extradite nor transfer any U.S. person to the ICC, and we will actively oppose any effort by other countries to do so. If any U.S. person is detained under purported ICC authority, the United States will take all necessary measures to secure that individual’s immediate release.”

He reaffirmed the Department of Justice’s commitment to fully defend the country’s sovereignty and protect the rights of U.S. persons against unlawful international overreach, adding that the U.S. Constitution vests judicial power in the country’s courts and legal system, which he described as “the envy of the world”.

“The United States will not subordinate the liberty and security of our people to a foreign tribunal in The Hague with no accountability to any electorate or fidelity to the Constitution,” he noted.

Earlier, on February 6, President Donald Trump, in a statement citing the U.S. Constitution, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act, said his administration found the ICC guilty of engaging in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and its close ally, Israel.

Mr Trump stated, “The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant.”

The sanctions imposed by Mr Trump at the time targeted Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, ordering executive measures including the blockage of property and assets, as well as the suspension of the prosecutor’s entry into the U.S.