President Donald Trump’s administration has imposed sanctions on four officials of the International Criminal Court, following the imposition of sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes.

Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, announced the sanctions in a statement on Wednesday.

“The @IntlCrimCourt continues to disregard national sovereignty and facilitate lawfare through efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, and prosecute American and Israeli nationals,” Mr Rubio said. “In response, I am sanctioning four additional ICC officials. We will continue to hold accountable those responsible for the ICC’s morally bankrupt and legally baseless actions against Americans and Israelis.”

This comes days after the U.S. sanctioned Mr Moraes for abusing his authority by engaging in a targeted and politically motivated witch hunt, warning to sanction other corrupt judges around the globe.

The ICC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Fadi El Abdallah, rejected the sanctions imposed on its officials, describing them as a “flagrant attack against its independence”.

The court described the sanctions as a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates “under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all regions”.

“They constitute also an affront against the Court’s States Parties, the rules-based international order and, above all, millions of innocent victims across the world,” the ICC said. “The ICC will continue fulfilling its mandate, undeterred, in strict accordance with its legal framework as adopted by the States Parties and without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat.”