The threat comes as Spain appears to be leading a shift in Europe away from Donald Trump’s US.
The Trump administration is studying a plan to punish NATO members who have not been forthcoming enough with assistance in the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran. At the top of the list is Spain whose prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is the only EU leader to have taken Trump properly to task over his disastrous war. In a recent address, Sánchez said Spain would “not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they turn up with a bucket of water.”
During the month-long conflict Sánchez’s government not only refused to allow US forces to use the joint military bases of Rota and Morón for operations in the West Asian conflict but also closed Spanish airspace to US military aircraft involved in the hostilities.
Now, the Trump White House is threatening to withdraw US troops from countries that have not contributed to the US-Israeli war effort, such as Spain and Germany, and relocate them to NATO members that have been more cooperative. The plan has reportedly gained traction among US government officials as Trump’s requests for help from NATO have fallen on deaf ears, according to The Wall Street Journal:
The proposal would fall far short of President Trump’s recent threats to fully withdraw the U.S. from the alliance, which by law he can’t do without Congress…
[The plan] underscores the growing rift between the Trump administration and European allies following the president’s decision to launch the war with Iran.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte traveled Wednesday to Washington to meet with Trump. Rutte has sought to deepen ties with Trump despite tensions in the trans-Atlantic alliance and was among those who persuaded him not to take over Greenland.
“It’s quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the last six weeks when it’s the American people who have been funding their defense,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. She said Trump planned to have a very “frank and candid conversation” with Rutte.
Rutte has sought to strengthen US-NATO ties despite rising tensions within the organisation, including over US plans to annexe Greenland. Even as those divisions have risen, the much-ballyhooed NATO divorce or separation is not going to be easy to accomplish, as Yves recently noted. Meanwhile, here is Rutte performing his ritual genuflection to “Daddy” Trump:
Despite all the recent complaints coming from Trump admin figures, the reality is that most NATO allies have quietly helped to enable the US’ war effort even as they have tried to keep their political distance from the war, as notes a recent WSJ op-ed by two Lithuanian-based analysts.
Germany has kept Ramstein Air Base — a crucial US hub for logistics and force projection — available under standing agreement, even as Berlin insists this isn’t NATO’s war. Even France has allowed US aircraft to use French bases for missions supporting Gulf partners, while prohibiting those planes from taking part in strikes on Iran.
The most extreme example of this trend is Keir Starmer’s Schrödinger’s war, which continues to intensify in both of its contradictory forms. As Starmer and his government ministers cling to the narrative that they refused to be dragged into the war, more and more evidence stacks up of UK complicity in US-Israeli war crimes, including Israel’s recent carpet bombing of Lebanon:
Now it appears that the Starmer government is exploring, together with a coalition of 30 other countries plus one of the main belligerents, the United States, military options for opening up the Strait…
Indeed, the only real exception to this trend is Spain, notes the WSJ op-ed:
The leftist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez seemed eager to pick a fight with Mr. Trump. Last year Madrid alone refused to commit to NATO’s 5% defense-spending target. Now it has denied the use of Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base for Iran-related operations and closed its airspace to U.S. military flights linked to the war. Yet when Spain blocked some routes and facilities, flights were simply rerouted elsewhere in Europe, including through Germany.
Spain’s Sánchez government shows no sign of changing course. If anything, it is intensifying its criticism of Israel and Trump. Spain’s Foreign Minister Manuel Albares called the war “the greatest assault on the civilization built upon the humanist ideals of reason, peace, understanding, and universal law.”
On Wednesday night, Sánchez reiterated his call for the EU to suspend its association agreement with Israel, urging an end to “impunity for (Israel’s) criminal actions”.
In a post on X, Sanchez described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “contempt for life and international law” as “intolerable”. He has also welcomed the Pakistani-brokered ceasefire alongside the caveat that Spain would “not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they turn up with a bucket,” in reference to the Trump administration.
The Spanish government was also quick to reopen its embassy in Tehran, becoming the first Western nation to do so, even as its diplomatic relations with Israel remain on hold.
“I’ve instructed our ambassador in Tehran to return, to take up his post again and reopen our embassy, and for us to join in this effort for peace from every possible quarter, including from the Iranian capital itself,” Albares told reporters on Wednesday.
In addition, Spain summoned Israeli envoys over incidents involving UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, including the reported detention of a Spanish UNIFIL member. In a recent interview with the WSJ, Sánchez warned that Netanyahu is trying to create a new geopolitical reality in the Middle East, from which Europe suffers the resulting political instability and economic impact.
As we have noted in previous posts, Sánchez’s anti-war stance, like his anti-genocide stance, is partly, if not largely, based on expedience. The broad coalition Sánchez has led for almost eight years includes left-wing parties like Podemos, Bildu and Esquerra Republicana that are strongly pro-Palestine and anti-war.
Pro-Palestine sentiment has also always been strong in Spanish society, with 82% qualifying Israel’s acts in Gaza as genocide, according to a survey late last year. Plus, Sánchez is facing myriad scandals at home and appears to have decided, quite wisely, that supporting the Gaza cause and opposing the war against Iran makes shrewd political sense.
There are concerns, however, about the genuineness of the government’s embargo on Israeli weapons. A new report of the Delàs Centre for Peace Studies warns that six months after the government’s emergency decree banning the weapons trade with Israel, Spain continues to engage in business with Israel’s military industry, in particular on the military tech side.
Meanwhile, Sánchez continues to reap the electoral benefits of his stance on the Iran war. As Reuters reports, polls show an overwhelming majority of Spanish voters rejects the war. Since the war began Sanchez’s Socialist Party has gained voter support while far-right Vox, which backed the US and Israel, has seen a decline. To borrow from Yves, “quelle surprise!”
Even more interesting is speculation that Spain may be leading a shift in Europe away from Donald Trump’s US and Netanyahu’s Israel…
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Nick Corbishley 