Iran deputy FM slams US anti-ICC push, says body targeted as it dared prosecute ‘favored criminal’

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi has condemned the United States and Israel's coordinated campaign against the International Criminal Court, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly boasted that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had pledged to take firm action against the tribunal that has issued an arrest warrant for him.

In a post on X, Gharibabadi wrote: "The Prime Minister of the Zionist regime, an accused individual with an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, brazenly announces that the US Secretary of State has promised to act against the Court that is prosecuting him. They call the Court 'corrupt' because it dared to prosecute Washington's favored criminal."

Gharibabadi's remarks came after Netanyahu, speaking at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, revealed that Rubio had personally assured him of Washington's intention to "act firmly against this organization, which endangers justice around the world and also threatens the right of democratic and sovereign states to exercise their sovereignty."

"In effect, it seeks to subject their security to the decisions of corrupt bureaucrats in The Hague," Netanyahu said, describing the development as "a very positive development" and urging that the message be "amplified throughout the world."

In a separate interview with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" program, Netanyahu celebrated the removal of former ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who was dismissed after two-thirds of ICC member states voted to oust him following unproven allegations of sexual misconduct.

"He pulled a con job on the international community with these bogus charges of war crimes on us. Now he's going to be in the dock," Netanyahu said, referring to Khan's own legal troubles. "I think that tells you that the whole thing... this criminal's bogus charges, that's what he's using."

Israeli media reports have since revealed that the Israeli regime played a direct and active role in orchestrating Khan's removal.

According to Israeli journalist Guy Azriel, citing an unnamed Israeli official, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar directed a dedicated task force and led an intensive diplomatic campaign aimed at securing Khan's dismissal.

The lobbying effort was set against the backdrop of the ICC's 2024 arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former military affairs minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza.

Following Khan's removal, Saar renewed calls for the warrants to be revoked, describing them as "politicized and outrageous."

ICC member states remove Karim Khan as chief prosecutor amid ‘immense political pressure’

The International Criminal Court (ICC)’s member states vote to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan from office amid “immense political pressure.”

Israeli media also reported that Khan had been considering additional arrest warrants targeting several senior Israeli ministers and military officials before his removal, a revelation that underscores the timing and motivation behind the campaign against him.

The coordinated assault on the ICC comes amid mounting pressure from Washington.

The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on the court and its personnel, while Rubio recently pledged to "dismantle the ICC brick by brick."

Critics say the episode proves again that the international legal order is systematically undermined whenever it threatens the interests of the United States and its allies.

Iranian officials have consistently called for the full implementation of ICC arrest warrants and condemned what they describe as a Western double standard that shields Israeli criminals from justice while weaponizing international institutions against independent nations.

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