Despite Trump\u2019s threats
\nSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warns attack on Iran risks triggering major global disaster
\n madrid
\nSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday doubled down on his opposition to the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, warning that the conflict risked triggering a major global disaster.
\nSanchez was responding after United States President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid over its position on the conflict and its refusal to allow US aircraft to use jointly operated naval and air bases in southern Spain for the offensive against Tehran.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to be complicit in something that\u2019s bad for the world, nor contrary to our values and interests simply to avoid reprisals from someone,\u201d Sanchez said in a televised address to the nation.
\nSanchez, among the most outspoken critics of both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said governments existed to improve people\u2019s lives and lashed out at leaders who \u201cuse the fog of war to hide their failure\u201d at home. \u201cThis is how humanity\u2019s great disasters start … You cannot play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018No to the war\u2019
\nTensions between the two NATO allies increased after Sanchez denounced the US and Israeli bombings of Iran as reckless and illegal, while most other European nations have withheld direct critique of the attacks. Israel has also criticised Sanchez, accusing him of \u201cstanding with tyrants\u201d in Iran and Palestine.
\nThe country has also refrained so far from involving itself in defensive operations, even as Britain, France, and Greece have sent armaments to Cyprus, which was struck by a drone on Monday, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer authorised use of UK bases for defensive strikes on Tehran.
\nSanchez said the world could not solve its problems with conflicts and bombs. \u201cThe position of the Spanish government can be summarised in four words: \u2018No to the war,\u2019\u201d he said, adding the stance was not naive but coherent.
\nSanchez highlighted the negative knock-on effects of the Iraq war, from a rise in jihadist terrorism to soaring energy prices, to argue that the consequences of this attack on Iran were just as nebulous and that it would not lead to a more just international order.
\nOn Tuesday, Trump said the US will cut off all trade with Spain after it refused to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.
\n\u201cSpain has been terrible,\u201d Trump stated, adding that he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to \u201ccut off all dealings\u201d with Spain. \u201cWe\u2019re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don\u2019t want anything to do with Spain,\u201d he added.
\nForeign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Spain would not allow its military bases, which are jointly operated by the US and Spain but under Spanish sovereignty, to be used for attacks on Iran, which Spain has condemned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite Trump\u2019s threats Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warns attack on Iran risks triggering major global disaster madrid Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday doubled down on his opposition to the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, warning that the conflict risked triggering a major global disaster. Sanchez was responding after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534921,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-534902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n