An F-35C Lightning II, attached to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314, preparing to land on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Photo / US Navy via AFP
Spain today doubled down on its opposition to Washington’s use of its bases against Iran, after United States President Donald Trump’s threats of trade reprisals over the spat deepened a rift between the Nato allies.
Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defiantly repeated calls of “no to the war” after the weekend US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered the regional conflict, in his latest policy clash with Trump.
Just hours later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Madrid had “agreed to co-operate with the US military”, without providing details on what the co-operation would entail.
But Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Cadena SER radio shortly afterwards that “our position on the use of the bases, on the war in the Middle East, on the bombardment of Iran, has not changed at all”.
Trump had lashed out at Sanchez’s Government yesterday, calling Spain a “terrible” ally and threatening to sever all trade with one of the world’s most dynamic developed economies.
Sanchez defended his position today saying his government’s position “can be summed up in four words: no to the war”.
“We will not be complicit in something that is harmful to the world and contrary to our values and interests, simply out of fear of retaliation,” he added in a televised address.
Spain is part of the European Union, which allows goods to move freely between its 27 countries. This would complicate any bid to impose trade restrictions on a single member state.
“Trump’s words don’t always become policy. We will have to see if he follows through, and how,” said Angel Saz Carranza, director of the Esade Centre for Global Economy and Geopolitics, a Spanish think-tank.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian commended Spain on X for its “responsible conduct in opposing the Zionist-American coalition’s flagrant human rights violations and military aggression against countries”.
French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Antonio Costa were among the allies rallying around Sanchez today.
“The EU will always ensure that the interests of its member states are fully protected,” Costa said.
French President Emmanuel Macron called to “express France’s European solidarity in response to the recent threats of economic coercion targeting Spain”, his office said.
Sanchez had already found himself in US crosshairs for refusing to join Nato allies in a pledge to boost defence spending to 5% of GDP as demanded by Trump.
He has also fiercely criticised Israel’s war in Gaza and the US military operation in January that captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
US forces use the Rota naval base and Moron air base in southern Spain under an agreement signed in 1953 under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Spain, then led by conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, staunchly backed the US by sending troops.
Spain’s participation in the Iraq War sparked huge street demonstrations and many Spaniards blame it for the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed nearly 200 people.
A branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks and called for the withdrawal of Spanish forces from Iraq.
Sanchez today compared the Iran attacks to the Iraq War, which he said increased terrorism, increased energy prices and led to a less secure world.
“We oppose this disaster,” he said in reference to the Iran war.
In contrast, neighbouring Portugal authorised the US to “conditionally” use an airbase on the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean for the Iran strikes, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro told parliament.
The authorisation was granted as long as “these operations are defensive or retaliatory, are necessary and proportionate, and exclusively target military objectives”, Montenegro said.
The conservative leader said those conditions were “aligned with international law”, but he declined to openly support Sanchez or take a stance on the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The Spanish Prime Minister has emerged as a prominent figure for Europe’s disillusioned progressives, who see him as one of the few remaining openly leftist voices in a continent increasingly dominated by right-wing politics.
His opposition to the use of the bases is seen by some analysts as an attempt to rally his supporters around an issue that unites the Spanish left.
Sanchez, in power since 2018, heads a minority coalition government that struggles to pass legislation.
The popularity of his Socialist party has taken a hit from a string of sexual harassment and graft scandals ahead of the next general election due in 2027.
Many on Spain’s right consider Sanchez’s opposition to Trump as motivated more by domestic politics than by a moral compass.
The head of the main opposition conservative Popular Party which tops opinion polls, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, accused Sanchez on X of using foreign policy for “partisan” purposes.
Left-leaning daily newspaper El Pais urged Sanchez in an editorial to “resist the temptation” to “exploit widespread hostility towards Trump in Spanish society to boost his popularity”.
-Agence France-Presse