Spain denies agreeing to help U.S. operations over Iran war

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Spain’s government denied on Wednesday that it has agreed to cooperate with U.S. operations in the Middle East using Spanish military bases, contradicting a White House account of Spain’s stance after new threats from President Donald Trump. The dispute grew as U.S. and Spanish officials offered conflicting statements about whether American armed forces could use bases in southern Spain for the Iran war.

The contradiction surfaced shortly after a White House spokesperson said Spain had agreed to help the United States. In response, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser that he could “refute (the White House spokesperson),” adding that “The position of the Spanish government regarding the war in the Middle East, the bombing of Iran and the use of our bases has not changed one iota.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt then said Spain had heard Trump’s message “loud and clear.” Leavitt also said that, “it’s my understanding over the past several hours, they’ve agreed to cooperate with the U.S. military,” and that she understood “the U.S. military is coordinating with their counterparts in Spain.”

The exchange marked a rapid escalation of a diplomatic tussle between the United States and Spain over the Iran war and the possible role of Spanish bases. The disagreement broke out after Trump said that he was going to “ cut off all trade with Spain,” following earlier statements from Albares about limits on U.S. use of jointly operated bases.

Albares’ denial came after Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, defended Spain’s posture in a nationally televised address. Sánchez criticized the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran as an “unjustifiable” and “dangerous” military intervention, while also warning that the conflict could lead to another costly military quagmire similar to past American interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Spain would not be “complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone,” and he cautioned the war risked “playing Russian roulette” with millions of lives.

Sánchez’s comments came after the dispute that began Tuesday, when Trump threatened wider economic pressure and discussed using Spanish basing infrastructure. Trump said he was going to cut trade with Spain over NATO spending, and he also said Spain’s refusal would not stop U.S. access to shared installations, referencing Rota and Morón in southern Spain, which remain under Spanish command even though they are shared.

“We could just fly in and use it,” Trump said, according to the report, adding, “Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it, but we don’t have to.” A day earlier, Albares had said Spain would not allow U.S. use of jointly operated bases in southern Spain for strikes not covered by the U.N. charter, and Sánchez said Spain would not be “be complicit in something that is bad for the world.”

In the latest push, the U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, told CNBC that a trade embargo could be part of a “combination effort.” Bessent said the Spanish refusal to allow U.S. use of its bases in what he described as the weekend attack on Iran endangered American lives, saying that “Anything that slows down our ability to engage and prosecute this war in the fastest, most effective manner puts American lives at risk,” and “The Spanish put American lives at risk.”

The White House and Spain also positioned the dispute amid broader uncertainty about how far trade measures could be applied, particularly because Spain is a European Union member. The report said it was not clear how Trump could cut off trade with Spain, because the EU negotiates trade on behalf of all its 27 member states. The EU, meanwhile, said it would protect its interests and work to stabilize trade with the United States, after reaching a trade deal last year.

Spanish business groups expressed concern about the impact of any trade threat, with the Spanish chambers CEOE, CEPYME and ATA saying Tuesday that they trusted the trade relationship would ultimately not be affected. The report also cited Spain’s central bank reporting that Europe’s fourth-largest economy was relatively cushioned compared with the EU average against exposure to Trump’s tariffs.

The latest flare-up reflected earlier tensions between Sánchez’s government and the Trump administration. The report said Sánchez had criticized the U.S. and Israeli war in the Gaza conflict and that Trump’s ire was drawn the previous year when Spain backed out of NATO’s pledge to increase defense spending by members to 5% of GDP.