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Marrakech – Spain on Wednesday flatly denied White House claims that Madrid had agreed to cooperate with the US military, calling the statement “categorically false” as tensions between the two NATO allies escalated over the war on Iran.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Spain had backed down after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off all trade with the country.
“I think they heard the president’s message yesterday loud and clear,” Leavitt said. “It’s my understanding over the past several hours they’ve agreed to cooperate with the US military, and the US military is coordinating with their counterparts in Spain.”
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares swiftly rejected the claim. “The spokeswoman may speak for the White House, but I am the foreign minister of Spain,” he affirmed. “I categorically deny it.” He added that Spain’s position on the use of its bases, the war in the Middle East, and the bombings in Iran “has not changed one bit.”
“I have no desire or time to speculate. Our position remains absolutely unchanged,” Albares asserted.
The prime minister’s office, the Moncloa Palace, also described the White House statement as “false.” Sources from Moncloa and the Defense Ministry ruled out any rapprochement with Washington.
The dispute erupted after Trump on Tuesday lashed out at Spain for refusing to allow the US to use jointly operated naval and air bases in southern Spain for strikes on Iran. “Spain has been terrible,” Trump said during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
Trump also criticized Madrid for rejecting NATO’s proposed defense spending target of 5% of GDP. “Everybody was enthusiastic about it – Germany, everybody – and Spain didn’t do it,” he said.
Spain ‘will not be vassals’
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded Wednesday with a televised address reiterating his government’s opposition to the war. He summed up Spain’s stance in three words: “No to war.”
Sánchez warned the conflict risked triggering a global disaster. “You can’t respond to one illegality with another because that’s how humanity’s great disasters begin,” he said. “You can’t play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions.”
He said Spain would “not be complicit in something that is bad for the world – and that is also contrary to our values and interests – simply out of fear of reprisals from someone.”
Sánchez invoked the 2003 Iraq War as a cautionary precedent. He recalled that the invasion was meant to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and bring democracy but instead “unleashed the greatest wave of insecurity our continent has suffered since the fall of the Berlin Wall.”
Sánchez had previously taken to his X account on Saturday to address Trump, writing: “The safest way to win wars is not starting any. Leave the world in peace.”
Deputy Prime Minister María Jesús Montero reinforced the message, saying Spain “will not be vassals” to another country.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Margarita Robles met Wednesday with US Ambassador to Spain Benjamín León. Ministry sources said Robles conveyed Spain’s commitment to peace, international law, and human rights while stressing that Spain remained “a reliable NATO partner.”
European allies rallied behind Madrid. German Chancellor Merz said he told Trump that Spain could not be excluded from any EU trade agreement. “There is no way to treat Spain particularly badly,” Merz said. French President Emmanuel Macron conveyed his “solidarity” with Sánchez in a phone call.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné was even more direct. “Any threat against a member state is by definition a threat against the EU,” he said.
A recent CIS poll found that 77% of Spaniards held a “bad” or “very bad” opinion of Trump, suggesting broad public support for Sánchez’s defiant stance even as uncertainty grows over potential economic reprisals.
