US lifts Trump’s sanctions on ICC prosecutor, court official

ICC is investigating alleged war crimes by the US in Afghanistan and by Israel in the Palestinian territories.

The United States on Friday lifted sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump on officials of the International Criminal Court who are investigating the US and Israel for war crimes in Afghanistan and Palestine. The executive action by President Joe Biden reverses one of the prior administration’s more aggressive moves to target international institutions, although Biden administration officials said the US still objects to the ICC assertion of jurisdiction over the US. “We believe, however, that our concerns about these cases would be better addressed” through diplomacy “rather than through the imposition of sanctions”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.