Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday morning defended his opposition to the United States and Israel’s military actions against Iran’s Islamic regime, asserting an embrace of neutrality, saying “The Spanish government’s position can be summed up: no to war.”
Spanish outlets reported that Sánchez delivered an institutional statement from the La Moncloa, the Prime Minister’s Office in Madrid, without the presence of journalists in which he reaffirmed his stance against the U.S. and Israel’s strikes against Iran.
“We will not be complicit in something that is wrong simply because we fear reprisals,” Sánchez reportedly said.
According to the state-owned broadcaster RTVE, Sánchez demanded a “diplomatic solution” to the ongoing conflict, asserting that “you cannot respond to one illegality with another.” He also warned that it is “naive” to think that “blind and servile obedience is leadership,” after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off all trade with Spain over his government’s refusal to allow the U.S. use its military bases for the ongoing military actions against Iran.
Sánchez reportedly affirmed Spain’s position is “clear and consistent,” and in line with what his government has previously expressed over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The Prime Minister argued that “we cannot assume that the world can only solve problems through conflict,” and called for “not repeating the mistakes of the past,” referring to the war in Iraq.
“Some will say that we are alone in this hope, but that is not true either. The Spanish government stands with those it should stand with; it stands with the values that our parents and grandparents enshrined in our constitution. Spain stands with the founding principles of the European Union; it stands with the United Nations Charter,” Sánchez reportedly said, as per the newspaper El Mundo.
Speaking at the White House on Tuesday during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Trump accused Spain of being a “terrible” ally over the fellow NATO member’s refusal to allow the U.S. to use its military bases.
Trump also recounted that his displeasure with Sánchez´s government began last year after Sánchez refused to increase Spain’s NATO spending to give percent of its GDP.
“Spain has absolutely nothing that we need, other than great people; they have great people, but they don’t have great leadership,” President Trump said. “We are going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
Hours later, the Spanish state-owned broadcaster RTVE, quoting sources from the Spanish government, reported that if Washington wants to review the trade relationship between the two countries, “it must do so while respecting the autonomy of private companies, international law, and bilateral agreements between the European Union and the United States.”
“La Moncloa has defended Spain as ‘a key member of NATO’ that fulfills its commitments and contributes ‘significantly’ to the defense of European territory,” RTVE, citing the source, wrote. “It is also an export powerhouse within the EU and a reliable trading partner for 195 countries around the world, including the U.S, with whom we have a historic and mutually beneficial trade relationship.”
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