The clause that would bind is still unpublished
The draft would bar most transactions with the International Criminal Court as an institution. A six- to seven-month wind-down is written in; communications services sit outside the ban. That is a different gate from sanctions on named judges and prosecutors: the counterparty becomes the court's own payments, insurance and IT purchases.[1]
A State Department spokesperson pointed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio's view that the court threatens US sovereignty. The Journal said the package could be finalised during UN General Assembly week or just after. Reuters wrote the same day that it could not immediately verify the Journal report. An unpublished draft is not a ban written onto the OFAC list.[1]
Named-person sanctions and the institutional gate
Existing US measures have targeted former chief prosecutor Karim Khan, ICC President Tomoko Akane, judges and the prosecutor who led the case against Israeli officials. An institutional ban would substitute the court's dollar clearing for those names. The communications exemption shows the gate would not cut every service; it would cut the payment and contract chain.[1]
That shift moves the inspector from a personnel file to market access. The court is not a US member; any bite would come from a ban on US-dollar and US-person dealings. An announcement can still be a political statement. Conduct changes once a list entry and licence terms are published.[1]
The signal to watch
If the package is not finalised this week during the General Assembly in New York, or in the days that follow, as the Journal wrote, the draft described on Sunday has not yet bound. A finalised text would show the wind-down start and the communications exemption, which would show which payments stop.[1]