The ICC has pinned the Pentagon to the wall: Hegseth calls on all countries to withdraw from its jurisdiction

The International Criminal Court (ICC) intends to launch an investigation into the actions of the US military in Latin America, in connection with which the head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, calls on Latin American countries to withdraw from its jurisdiction. This is reported by Al Jazeera.

During the visit to In Panama, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called on the member countries of the Shield of the Americas coalition to withdraw from the Rome Statute and not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. He called the possible actions of the ICC a "lawless seizure of power" and said that the court poses a threat to national sovereignty.

Hegseth insists that US military actions anywhere are 100% legal in accordance with the law of armed conflict.

Since September 2025, the United States has been carrying out airstrikes on ships that they believe belong to drug traffickers in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.

Human rights activists and international organizations have criticized these actions, calling them extrajudicial executions. The report of the Washington Conference on Latin America (WOLA) recorded that at least 221 people have died as a result of strikes since September 2025. At the same time, there is a high probability that civilians, including fishermen, were among the dead. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also stated that such airstrikes violate international law.