Pedro Sánchez has done it again. The Spanish prime minister has once more become the sole voice among major European countries standing up to Donald Trump, this time over the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.
The Madrid government has denied Washington the use of the bases the Pentagon maintains in the Spanish towns of Rota and Morón. It argues that the “unilateral action” does not comply with international law — even as it clearly condemns Iran’s repressive dictatorship. The US president’s response was not long in coming. Furious, Trump threatened to break off all kinds of relations with Spain and impose a trade embargo. However, as both the Spanish government and European Union authorities have pointed out, the United States does not have the ability to impose targeted tariffs on Spain, as the country is part of the EU trade bloc.
The response of the Spanish government — made up of Sánchez’s Socialists (PSOE) and the leftist Sumar coalition — to the US and Israeli aggression differs radically from that of other European countries and the EU itself. In the empty, hypocritical language that has become the hallmark of her politics, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called for “respecting international law” after the first bombings, but she remained silent on the illegal nature of the attack and branded Iranian retaliation “unacceptable.”
For its part, the British government under Keir Starmer initially denied the use of its base on Diego Garcia (an island in the Indian Ocean) for the first US bombings on Saturday, due to doubts about the attack’s legality but later changed its position. This was too late for Trump, who proclaimed himself “very disappointed” with the British prime minister while nonetheless using the bases. The emperor does not tolerate delays in the fulfilment of his wishes.
French president Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, reacted by announcing plans to expand France’s…
Auteur: Pablo Castaño
