WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to issue a stark warning Friday to the International Criminal Court against trying to enforce rules that Washington does not recognize. Rubio’s planned remarks to the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention — excerpts of which were seen in advance by AFP — come around a month after the United States announced new sanctions on the ICC, vowing to cripple the tribunal’s operations. His keynote address at the conservative group also marks his first major US speech since the Republican Party’s sweeping losses in midterm elections this month. Rubio is widely seen as a possible successor to President Donald Trump, although he has dismissed reports that he was planning to leave the administration to prepare for a 2028 election run. The top US diplomat previously said Washington would bar transactions with what he called a “rogue court,” stepping up a long-running campaign by Trump’s government against the Hague-based body. Rubio is expected Friday to renew criticism of the ICC, calling it “accountable to none” although “armed with the power to investigate, prosecute and jail our citizens according to laws we neither consent to nor control.” He adds: “If they are foolish enough to try to enforce their paper decrees, our answer will be the same as the Roman general Pompey gave to those who invoked their city’s charters against his legions: ‘Stop quoting laws to men with swords.’” Washington earlier vowed to dismantle the court “brick by brick,” furious that judges have issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged crimes in Gaza. European nations and the United Nations have led opposition to incoming US sanctions, while US ally Israel welcomed the decision. The sanctions announced in October would take effect in six months, and allies have urged for this time to be used for negotiations. The US signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC but never ratified the treaty. Israel, Russia and China are also not ICC members. The court, established in 2002, prosecutes individuals accused of the gravest atrocities and acts as a last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability.