Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gestures throughout a press convention on the Moncloa Palace in Madrid on December 15, 2025.
Thomas Coex | Afp | Getty Pictures
Spain has pushed again in opposition to the White Home’s declare that it agreed to cooperate militarily with Washington amid the battle with Iran, doubling down on its anti-war stance regardless of the U.S. president’s risk to sever commerce ties.
White Home spokesperson Karoline Leavitt mentioned on Wednesday that Madrid’s place of refusing to permit the nation’s army bases for use within the ongoing Iran conflict had now modified.
“With respect to Spain, I believe they heard the president’s message yesterday loud and clear, and it is my understanding, over the previous a number of hours, they’ve agreed to cooperate with the U.S. army,” Leavitt instructed reporters.
“The president expects all of our European allies, after all, to cooperate on this lengthy sought-after mission, not only for the US but in addition for Europe, to crush the rogue Iranian regime.”
Spain swiftly and “categorically” rejected Leavitt’s assertion, nevertheless.
“The Spanish authorities’s place on the conflict within the Center East … and the usage of our bases has not modified in any respect,” International Minister Jose Manuel Albares instructed personal radio station Cadena Ser, in line with Reuters.
The chaotic messaging between two NATO allies comes shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to chop off all commerce with Madrid, calling Spain “horrible” and repeating his criticism of Spain’s protection spending.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded on Wednesday by describing the sprawling Center East disaster as a “catastrophe” and summarized his authorities’s place in simply three phrases: “No to conflict.”
Sánchez has emerged as one of many European Union’s main critics of U.S. and Israeli strikes in opposition to Iran, having additionally been an outspoken critic of Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
Arancha González, former international minister of Spain, instructed CNBC on Thursday that Trump’s assaults on Sánchez weren’t the primary time the U.S. president has criticized a European chief.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen have all beforehand been singled out by Trump.
“What do all of them have in frequent? They’ve mentioned ‘no’ or they’ve questioned motives by the U.S. president,” González mentioned. She added that political leaders who stood agency have been extra more likely to be in a greater place over the long run.
‘Lets preserve calm’
González, who now serves because the Dean of the Paris Faculty of Worldwide Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po, additionally issued a warning to Washington over Trump’s risk to sever commerce ties with Madrid.
“Let me say that it could be silly of the U.S. to have a commerce embargo on a rustic with which it has a commerce surplus. The U.S. has a commerce surplus with Spain. President Trump all the time complains about imbalanced commerce relationships. Properly, right here is a superb commerce relationship the place he’s a successful,” González instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Field Europe” on Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from the media throughout a bilateral assembly with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz within the Oval Workplace of the White Home on March 03, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Win Mcnamee | Getty Pictures
Trump’s risk to punish Spain on commerce is extensively regarded as a difficult prospect to ship on, on condition that the 27 EU nations negotiate commerce agreements collectively.
“Spain doesn’t have an autonomous commerce coverage. Spain’s commerce coverage is the European Union’s commerce coverage,” González mentioned. “Let’s preserve calm. Cool heads. This isn’t the primary time that we’ve seen threats of this sort.”
Spain’s Ibex 35 index was the highest performer amongst Europe’s main bourses on Thursday morning, up round 1.2%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index, in the meantime, was final seen up 0.5%.
Spain’s Ibex 35 index during the last 5 days.
“I am really very optimistic on the truth that there was solidarity with Spain. There was clearly a united place that it’s unacceptable to attempt to bully particular person nations into particular political positions,” mentioned Guntram Wolff, senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based financial suppose tank.
“The U.S. president can disagree with them, and you understand additionally amongst Europeans we are able to disagree on substance, however what just isn’t acceptable is that a person European ally will get singled out and will get bulled,” Wolff instructed CNBC’s “Europe Early Version” on Thursday.
“Europeans have realized the teachings and know that they should stick collectively,” he added.
