Alwaght- Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has slammed the US for threatening the International Criminal Court, saying Washington's "boorishness” apparently knows no limits.
"The US threatens to impose sanctions on the ICC & even prosecute its judges in American courts. Where is the outrage?" Zarif said in a post on his official Twitter account on Tuesday.
"When will the international community say enough is enough & force US to act like a normal state?" he asked.
In a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative group, in Washington, DC, on Monday, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton threatened sanctions against the ICC judges who plan to probe alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan, saying it constitutes an assault on US sovereignty.
"The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court," Bolton said.
The ICC declared in a statement that it would continue to investigate war crimes “undeterred” by the Trump administration’s threat of sanctions against its judges.
“The court was established and constituted under the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty – to which 123 countries from all regions of the world are party and have pledged their support through ratification – as an instrument to ensure accountability for crimes that shock the conscience of humanity. The court is an independent and impartial judicial institution," it said.
“The ICC, as a court of law, will continue to do its work undeterred, in accordance with those principles and the overarching idea of the rule of law,” the statement added.
The United States -- under Republican George W. Bush’s presidency -- and its allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban regime from power, but after more than one and a half decades, the foreign troops are still deployed to the country.
