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Venezuela to Withdraw from International Criminal Court

The Hague-based International Criminal Court tries individuals for the world's worst crimes. JOHN THYS / AFP
The Hague-based International Criminal Court tries individuals for the world's worst crimes. JOHN THYS / AFP
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Venezuela to Withdraw from International Criminal Court

The Hague-based International Criminal Court tries individuals for the world's worst crimes. JOHN THYS / AFP
The Hague-based International Criminal Court tries individuals for the world's worst crimes. JOHN THYS / AFP

Venezuela will withdraw from the International Criminal Court over the tribunal's perceived bias, the nation's foreign minister said Friday.

The announcement comes amid an ongoing ICC investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed under ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's government.

Caracas had informed the United Nations of its "firm and irrevocable decision" to withdraw from the ICC, Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia wrote on X.

Interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, who took over after US forces ousted Maduro in January, had instructed the move, he added.

"Venezuela considers that the Court's actions reflect a demonstrated geographical bias, which has disproportionately concentrated its work on African and Latin American countries," Plasencia said.

The Hague-based court said it had not yet received a formal notification of Venezuela's withdrawal.

"We regret any decision to depart from the collective effort to end impunity for the most serious international crimes," the ICC stated, adding it takes one year for official withdrawal from the court to take effect.

Even after that, "the withdrawing State remains bound by obligations that arose whilst it was a State Party," the statement cautioned.

"Withdrawal does not affect any pre-existing cooperation obligations arising from criminal investigations or proceedings that had commenced" previously, it added.

The ICC is currently probing alleged crimes against humanity committed during crackdowns on protestors in Venezuela since 2014.

In December 2025, Venezuela's parliament took steps to repeal the Rome Statute, the court's founding text, after the tribunal closed its Caracas office citing fruitless government talks.

And in March of this year, the ICC dismissed complaints filed by Venezuela that US sanctions on the country amounted to crimes against humanity.

Plasencia's announcement coincides with ICC member states' decision Friday to dismiss top prosecutor Karim Khan over allegations of sexual assault.

Khan denies the allegations, and his lawyers said Friday he will challenge his dismissal.

In 2024, the 56-year-old Briton successfully applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

When President Donald Trump took office for the second time in 2025, the United States retaliated by imposing sanctions on the tribunal and its judges.

Neither the US nor Israel is a party to the ICC, which tries individuals for the world's worst crimes including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Rubio Says US Yet to Decide on New Iran Strikes

Iranian people walk past a mural depicting late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in a street of Tehran, Iran, 31 October 2026. (EPA)
Iranian people walk past a mural depicting late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in a street of Tehran, Iran, 31 October 2026. (EPA)
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Rubio Says US Yet to Decide on New Iran Strikes

Iranian people walk past a mural depicting late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in a street of Tehran, Iran, 31 October 2026. (EPA)
Iranian people walk past a mural depicting late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in a street of Tehran, Iran, 31 October 2026. (EPA)

US President Donald Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran amid stalled peace talks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday.

"We can achieve military objectives if we seek to," Rubio told a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was hosting G20 foreign ministers for a two-day meeting.

But Rubio added that Trump "hasn't made a decision" on further military action, amid reports that the US leader could attack after key midterm elections on Tuesday.

"I have no announcement in that regard with you today, and nor do we take any of it lightly," Rubio said.

While he slammed Tehran for "actively and openly" targeting commercial vessels for attack, Rubio also expressed Trump's preference for a diplomatic solution to end war with Iran.

But he did not commit to a timeline for talks.

"I'm not going to characterize neither the progress on those talks nor any timeframe on it, other than to tell you that if there is a diplomatic solution, we would be open to it," Rubio said.

Iran's supreme leader on Saturday warned the United States and Israel against launching new attacks, following threats to resume strikes after crucial elections.

Trump earlier warned of the potential for fresh military action after US midterms, saying previously that he was weighing up whether to "finish them off."

But any further attack would spark concern among US allies.

On Thursday, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told AFP: "We are calling for a diplomatic solution, and really, escalation does not benefit anyone."

World

Iranian Envoys Meet Qatari Mediators as Threat Looms of US Strikes After Midterms

A man holds Iran's national flag in a street of Tehran, Iran, 31 October 2026. (EPA)
A man holds Iran's national flag in a street of Tehran, Iran, 31 October 2026. (EPA)
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Iranian Envoys Meet Qatari Mediators as Threat Looms of US Strikes After Midterms

A man holds Iran's national flag in a street of Tehran, Iran, 31 October 2026. (EPA)
A man holds Iran's national flag in a street of Tehran, Iran, 31 October 2026. (EPA)

Iranian negotiators held talks in Doha with Qatari mediators on Saturday to discuss paths out of war in the region, a source told Reuters, as diplomats try to avert a new outbreak of fighting after the US midterm elections this week.

Saturday's talks in the Qatari capital followed more than 12 hours of discussions on Friday between Iranian and Qatari envoys in Tehran, said the source, who was briefed on the negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity. The source said the talks were being coordinated in regular contacts with Washington.

Countries in the region have been anticipating that US President Donald Trump, who has held off on strikes on Iran during the weeks leading ‌up to Tuesday's ‌midterm elections, could restart attacks once the voting is over. Iran has repeatedly ‌said ⁠it would respond ⁠to new attacks by striking at US and Israeli targets in neighboring countries.

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement on Saturday ordering the armed forces to be prepared to respond to any attacks. The Iranian military later announced it was taking steps to improve its readiness.

"Any level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response," Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since replacing his father slain at the war's outset, said on Saturday in the statement posted on his official Telegram account.

He said ⁠that senior commanders had reported high readiness along the Gulf coast, in ‌and around the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, and ‌on Iran's northwestern and southeastern borders.

DIPLOMACY CONTINUES DESPITE GAPS

Trump, who launched the war alongside Israel in February, has repeatedly hinted ‌at plans to restart strikes on Iran. Last week he called on Israelis ahead of their ‌own election to keep his wartime ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power so the two leaders can "finish the job".

But Washington has also lately taken steps to indicate it is open to diplomacy. Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation at previous rounds of talks with Iran, wrote a letter to a hardline senior ‌Iranian security official, which the New York Times and Wall Street Journal described as an initiative to see if it was possible to restart talks.

Trump ⁠played the letter down, ⁠saying he approved it only to discuss the possibility of letting more medical supplies into Iran: "I said if you want to do that, that's ok. Basically, it's getting supplies in to help people that are not well."

In the latest Qatari-mediated discussions, the Qataris brought a proposal to Tehran a week ago for a seven-day plan, under which the US and Iran would take daily steps to build trust ahead of broader peace talks, the source briefed on the negotiations said. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday that this proposal was not deemed satisfactory by Tehran.

Iran has been proposing its own seven-day plan since September, so far rejected by Trump. That calls for Washington to lift a blockade of Iranian ports, unfreeze assets and approve an Iranian-backed route through the Strait of Hormuz, after which the contested strait would be reopened.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in remarks reported by Al Jazeera on Saturday that Iran was studying Vance's letter. He said the Iranian plan was the only proposal on the table to reopen the strait.

World

Rubio Hosts Meeting of Indo-Pacific Quad, Wraps up G20 Gathering

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting Welcome Reception at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (Megan Varner/Pool Photo via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting Welcome Reception at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (Megan Varner/Pool Photo via AP)
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Rubio Hosts Meeting of Indo-Pacific Quad, Wraps up G20 Gathering

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting Welcome Reception at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (Megan Varner/Pool Photo via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting Welcome Reception at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (Megan Varner/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted a meeting with the foreign ministers of Australia, India and Japan on Saturday, their third meeting this year, as plans take shape for a summit of the leaders of the four countries in Manila next month.

The leaders' summit, expected to occur during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference in the Philippine capital on November 15-18, would be the first since 2024, and the first for US President ‌Donald Trump.

The first ‌formal leaders' summits of the four countries known as the ‌Quad ⁠did not begin ⁠until President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Trump was scheduled to attend a Quad summit in India in late 2025, but canceled the visit due to trade frictions and tariff disputes with New Delhi.

After the Quad ministers' meeting, Rubio hosted a final plenary session with foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies during a two-day summit in Atlanta, where the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov highlighted deep ⁠rifts among G20 members.

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told ‌Reuters in an interview that she would not ‌have chosen to invite Lavrov, but she used the occasion to confront him directly about ‌Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"I stared him in the eye ‌and called out Russia's further illegal invasion of Ukraine, the stealing of Ukrainian children, the targeting of Ukrainian ships in the Black Sea, all of which are reprehensible, all of which are contrary to international law and international humanitarian law," Anand said, citing her remarks during a closed-door ‌plenary session on Friday.

Lavrov on Friday told reporters that Moscow's position on the Ukraine conflict was unchanged, and Russia ⁠could not accept Ukraine ⁠as a "military threat to the lawful security interests of the Russian Federation," according to Russian news agencies.

Rubio, speaking at a reception at the Georgia Aquarium on Friday evening, repeated his call for G20 members to cooperate where possible given today's complex economic and geopolitical challenges, including many with serious global consequences.

"Because we all face these challenges, we must all work together to address them," he said. "The future of our nations depends on our willingness to understand that while our interests may not always align, we should always seek to work together to advance them when and where they do align."

Rubio, who will hold a press conference after the meetings conclude on Saturday, said he hoped the G20 foreign ministers could lay the groundwork for a successful leaders' summit on December 14-15 at Trump's Doral golf resort near Miami.