In a statement on Saturday via X, Baqaei said Washington is routinely using sanctions and coercion to serve its global interests.
He described the latest US move—announced on Friday—as a dangerous escalation of its policy of illegal punitive measures, now extending to international institutions like the ICC, which are dedicated to upholding justice and international law.
The sanctions came in response to the ICC’s decision in November to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister for Military Affairs Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The enclave has been subjected to over 15 months of intense Israeli military aggression, resulting in more than 47,500 Palestinian deaths, the majority being women and children.
Baqaei stressed that these sanctions were deliberately designed to obstruct the ICC’s investigation into Israel’s war crimes and ongoing atrocities against Palestinians.
“Punishing the ICC for probing Israel’s brutal crimes is yet another example of US complicity with an occupying apartheid regime,” he asserted.
