Spain rejects US claim to agree to cooperate during Iran war

Spain has doubled down on its anti-war stance, pushing back against White House claims that it has agreed to military cooperation with the United States amid its conflict with Iran, despite the US president’s threat to sever trade ties.

White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said Wednesday that Madrid’s position on refusing to allow its military bases to be used in the ongoing Iran war has changed.

“In terms of Spain, I think they heard the president’s message loud and clear yesterday. My understanding is that in the last few hours, Spain has agreed to cooperate with the U.S. military,” Levitt told reporters.

“The President, of course, looks forward to all of our European allies cooperating in this long-standing mission, not only for the United States but also for Europe, to crush the rogue Iranian regime.”

But Spain swiftly and “categorically” rejected Mr. Levitt’s claims.

“The Spanish government’s position on the war in the Middle East and the use of our bases has not changed at all,” Foreign Minister José Manuel Álvarez told private radio station Cadena Ser, according to Reuters.

The confusing messages between the two NATO allies came just days after US President Donald Trump called Spain “terrible”, reiterated his criticism of Spain’s defense spending and vowed to cut off all trade with Madrid.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez responded on Wednesday by describing the unfolding Middle East crisis as a “disaster” and summarizing his government’s position in just three words: “No to war.”

Mr Sanchez has emerged as one of the European Union’s leading critics of the US and Israeli offensive against Iran, and was an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Arancha González, Spain’s former foreign minister, told CNBC on Thursday that Trump’s attack on Sanchez was not the first time a U.S. president has criticized a European leader.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen have all been nominated by Trump.

“What do they all have in common? Either they said no, or they questioned the motives of the president of the United States,” González said. She added that political leaders who take a firm stand are likely to be in a better position in the long run.

González, who is currently dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), also warned Washington about President Trump’s threat to sever trade ties with Madrid.

“Let me tell you it’s foolish for the United States to put an embargo on a country that has a trade surplus. The United States has a trade surplus with Spain. President Trump is always complaining about an unbalanced trade relationship. Well, we have a great trade relationship here and he’s winning,” González said Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”

President Trump’s threat to punish Spain over trade is widely seen as a difficult prospect to realize, given that the 27 EU countries jointly negotiate trade deals.

“Spain does not have an independent trade policy. Spain’s trade policy is the trade policy of the European Union (EU),” González said. “Stay calm. Stay calm. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this type of threat.”

spanish ibex 35 index was the top performer among Europe’s major stock exchanges on Thursday afternoon, rising about 0.7%. pan-european Stoxx600 indexOn the other hand, it rose 0.2% last time.

“I’m very positive about the fact that there was solidarity with Spain. There was clearly a common position that trying to bully countries into a particular political position is unacceptable,” said Guntram Wolff, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel.

“You know it’s possible for the president of the United States to disagree with them, and you know there are substantive differences of opinion among Europeans, but what is unacceptable is for individual European allies to be singled out and bullied,” Wolff said Thursday on CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition.”

“European countries have learned their lessons and recognize that they need to come together,” he added.