Spain denies US permission to use jointly operated bases to attack Iran | US-Israel war on Iran
Spain has refused US permission to use jointly operated military bases on its territory to attack Iran, as Madrid stepped up criticism of “unjust and dangerous military intervention”.
Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, openly condemned the attacks by the United States and Israel. “Unilateral military action” Against Iran, he warned that Iran was contributing to a “more hostile and uncertain international order.” The rebukes were further strengthened by his government’s refusal to allow the United States to use bases in Rota and Morón for ongoing attacks against Iran.
Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares said on Monday that the government wanted “democracy, freedom and fundamental rights for the Iranian people” but would in no way allow its bases to be used in ongoing military operations.
“I want to be very clear and simple,” he told Telecinco. “The bases are not and will not be used for anything not included in the agreement.” [with the US]or for anything not covered by the UN convention.”
Defense Minister Margarita Robles made a similar emphasis, saying that none of the bases were used in a US military operation. “There is an agreement with the United States on these bases, but our understanding of the agreement is that operations must comply with international legal frameworks and there must be international support for them,” he told reporters.
Maps compiled by flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed 15 US aircraft had departed Rota and Morón since the US and Israel began their attacks over the weekend. At least seven of the planes were shown to have landed at Ramstein air base in Germany.
US defense officials declined to comment on the reasons for the departures.
On Saturday, Sánchez said the attack by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu had made the world less unstable and called for a permanent political solution to the conflict.
He returned to this subject in his speech in Barcelona on Sunday. “Today, it is more vital than ever to remember that you can be against a hateful regime (Spanish society is a whole when it comes to the Iranian regime) and at the same time against an unjust and dangerous military intervention that lies outside international law,” he said.
Sánchez’s outspoken condemnations are unlikely to have endeared him to Trump last year. ripped apart spain For refusing to accept NATO’s proposal that member states increase defense spending to 5% of their GDP. But the Spanish prime minister’s comments befit his status as one of Europe’s most outspoken leaders. Sánchez is among the loudest European critics of both Israel’s war in Gaza and the EU’s response to it.
Other European leaders are trying to hedge their bets on Trump’s latest attempt to secure regime change abroad. UK prime minister Keir Starmer initially refused to allow US forces to use Diego Garcia or any air bases in the UK due to doubts about the legality of the attacks. But on Sunday he changed his position after Iran launched a wave of retaliatory missile and drone attacks on targets in the Middle East; one of which hit the UK air base in Cyprus.
In a joint statement with Britain, France and Germany published earlier on Sunday, he said: “We will take steps to defend our own interests and those of our allies in the region by enabling potentially necessary and proportionate defensive action to destroy Iran’s ability to fire missiles and drones at its sources.”
Trump reacted to this change of heart, saying it had taken Britain “too long” to allow US forces to use its bases.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is scheduled to meet Trump in Washington on Tuesday, said he appreciated the “dilemma” that has arisen when it comes to how to respond to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and its oppression of its own people.
He added: “That’s why we won’t lecture our partners about military strikes against Iran… Despite all misgivings, we share many of their goals.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for a lasting “diplomatic” solution to the crisis in Iran, adding that the bloc would work hard to prepare for “the impacts of these recent events”.
