The Trump administration has imposed sweeping new sanctions on the International Criminal Court, escalating its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over its investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel.

The Hague-based court was created to prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the United States is not a party to its founding Rome Statute — nor does Washington recognize the tribunal's jurisdiction over Americans. It is also not the first time the U.S. has moved against the institution: the first Trump administration sanctioned ICC officials in 2020 over the court's Afghanistan investigation, the Biden administration lifted those measures in 2021, and sanctions were renewed earlier this year.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the measures on Friday, shortly after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African jurist Navi Pillay, a former judge at the ICC and other international courts — an award that President Trump has long coveted for himself.

"We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us," Rubio said in a video address posted to social media. "The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC."

Under the sanctions, the court will be cut off from U.S.-based financial services, technology companies, and even the use of U.S. dollars. The measures set a six-month timeline for U.S. companies and individuals that do business with the court to wind those relationships down. Their force draws on the dollar's central role in global finance: a tribunal based in Europe still relies on access to U.S. financial services, technology providers and dollar transactions, and the court's backers warn that staff and their families — not just the institution itself — will feel the impact.

The ICC denounced the step as an attack on the rule of law and the foundations of international order — themes that Rubio had appeared to embrace only two days earlier, in a speech delivered in front of the Acropolis in Athens.

"It is an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the court from doing what it was created to do," the court said in a statement. "It is an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order which strikes at the simple principle that no one stands above the law."

ICC President Tomoko Akane, a citizen of the U.S. ally Japan, said the court would "continue to fully discharge its mandate, with independence and impartiality, acting only on the basis of the law and the evidence, for the sake of the countless victims of grave crimes." She also appealed to the tribunal's members for support.

"This is not just about defending a single institution, but about safeguarding the international order grounded upon the rule of law," Akane said.

Rights groups likewise condemned the sanctions.

"This existential attack must fail," said Erika Guevara Rosas, a senior director at Amnesty International. "States must take concrete action to resist the imposition of these measures and actively protect the Court."

The Netherlands, the court's host country, has been preparing for the move for weeks. One possible mitigation measure is the EU's "blocking statute," which could protect European court staff by preventing European companies from complying with the U.S. measures. Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen has described the blocking statute as the "nuclear option" in countering the sanctions, but said the Netherlands has been in talks with the European Commission to ensure that, if necessary, it can be enacted quickly. Whether the bloc ultimately pulls that lever — and how fast — is now one of the key questions hanging over the sanctions' practical effect on the court's operations in The Hague.

In a joint statement, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom expressed strong disagreement with the U.S. action.

"We will continue to work together to support the court's vital work, uphold the rules-based international system, and advance accountability," the statement said. "If put into effect, these sanctions will have a significant impact on the court's work, its dedicated staff and their families. They work every day to bring those accused of the most serious international crimes to justice and to support their victims."

Rubio called on U.S. allies to join the American measures. "If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, piece by piece, until Americans are threatened no longer," he said.

A number of countries have withdrawn from the court this year, including Venezuela and Chad. Naoero, a South Pacific island nation, was the most recent to announce it would quit. Under the court's founding treaty, a member's withdrawal takes effect one year after it gives notice.

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Quell reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writer Mike Corder contributed from The Hague.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.