Spain opposes the “catastrophic” conflict between the United States and Israel in the Middle EastPrime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded on Wednesday to US President Donald Trump’s threat to cut off mutual trade relations. TASR informs about it according to the reports of the Reuters and AFP agencies and the newspaper El País.
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez rejects the catastrophic conflict of the United States with Israel.
- Sánchez announced the fundamental position of the Spanish government, summed up in the slogan no to war.
- Spain has banned US aircraft from using its southern military bases for operations.
- Donald Trump threatened to cut off trade relations with Spain and criticized its stance.
- French President Emmanuel Macron expressed European solidarity to Spain against economic pressure.
“This is how the great disasters of mankind begin. You cannot play Russian roulette with the destinies of millions of people.” declared Sánchez. According to him, the position of the Spanish government can be summed up simply – “no war”. “We will not participate in something that is harmful to the world and contrary to our values and interests, simply for fear of retaliation,” he added.
Tensions between the two allied countries rose when Sánchez called the US-Israeli attacks in Iran “reckless and illegal” and later banned US aircraft from using military bases in southern Spain for the operation.
The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission (EC) Teresa Riberová said on Wednesday that Trump cannot stop the trade exchange between the US and Spain. In doing so, she pointed to an overlap with the competences of the European Union, Politico magazine explains.
“Spain is very uncooperative. So is the UK. We are not in the era of (Winston) Churchill,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday, referring to the British World War II prime minister.
French President Emmanuel Macron supported the Spanish Prime Minister on Wednesday. “The President has just spoken to Prime Minister Sánchez to express France’s European solidarity in response to recent threats of economic coercion against Spain,” Macron’s office said.
