Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday declined to engage in a dispute with the United States amid reports that the Pentagon may penalize NATO members that do not support U.S. operations in the Iran war, as Madrid refuses access to its bases and airspace.
Among those in the firing line is Spain, which has refused to allow U.S. forces involved in the war to use bases on its territory or airspace. Spain says that U.S.-Israeli actions in the Iran war contravene international law.
France and the U.K. also refuse to give U.S. forces free rein to use their territory for the bombing campaign.
The Pentagon is reported to be mulling whether to suspend Spain from NATO, according to an unidentified U.S. official referring to a U.S. Defense Department email, and quoted by the Reuters news agency.
"Well, we do not work with emails," Sanchez told reporters at a European Union summit in Greek Cyprus. "We work with official documents and positions taken, in this case, by the government of the United States.”
"The position of the government of Spain is clear: absolute collaboration with the allies, but always within the framework of international legality,” he said.
The Trump administration has routinely floated plans or ideas that are neither acted upon nor become policy. There is no provision in the NATO treaty allowing for the suspension or expulsion of a member of the world's most powerful military alliance.
Responding to a question about the Reuters report, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said the Defence Department "will ensure that the president has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part," but did not provide further details.
The email also suggested reassessing U.S. support for the United Kingdom's claim to the Falkland Islands, near Argentina, which are also known as Islas Malvinas.
Dave Pares, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said the U.K. position on the islands is "longstanding and it’s unchanged: Sovereignty rests with the U.K., and the islanders’ right to self-determination is paramount.”
Pares noted, "the Falkland Islands have previously voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining a U.K. overseas territory.”
NATO operates by consensus, and all 32 member countries must agree for it to act.
The trans-Atlantic alliance's founding treaty has no mechanism for suspending or ejecting any of the members, although nations may leave of their own accord one year after notifying the other allies. As an organization, NATO has no direct role in the Iran war except to defend its own territory.
Asked for comment, NATO headquarters said: "NATO’s Founding Treaty does not foresee any provision for suspension of NATO membership, or expulsion.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has been angered by what he sees as the failure of some NATO members to back American actions in the Iran war and to help police the Strait of Hormuz, a major trade route. He has questioned the purpose of U.S. membership in the military organization.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas appeared perplexed by the U.S. criticism, given that the United Kingdom and France are leading an effort to help secure trade in the strait once the war is over.
"When we have had contacts with the American counterparts, then actually their asks for us have been exactly what we are able to offer after the cessation of hostilities,” she said. "Demining, escorting of ships, all of this that we have been discussing.”
But the United States has "long-standing arrangements and agreements with European allies on overflight, on basing” that should be respected, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said, in implicit criticism of some allies like Spain, but also France.
While Spain restricted U.S. military activity related to the Iran war, U.S. warplanes have flown over other NATO allies’ airspace and used U.S. bases in other NATO countries for war-related operations.
Trump has even threatened to cut trade with Spain over its refusal to allow the use of its bases and airspace. More broadly, Spain has also disappointed its allies by failing to commit to spend as much as they plan to do on defense.
As the reality sinks in that the U.S. commitment to NATO and Europe’s security under Trump has waned, the EU leaders debated how best to use European laws to come to each other’s aid should one of them come under attack.