\u201cWe will not be complicit in something that is bad for the world and that is also contrary to our values \u200b\u200band interests, simply out of fear of reprisals from someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
After refusing to take part in Trump and Israel\u2019s \u201cillegal\u201d war in Iran, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez has become an unlikely hero in parts of the Middle East, particularly Iran. Tasnim news agency reported yesterday (March 23) that members of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard had even taken to placing stickers on their missiles bearing a photograph of S\u00e1nchez alongside a text in Arabic and English that reads:<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, this is not only an illegal war, it is also an inhumane war.\u00a0Thank you, Prime Minister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf7 A missile launched in the 75th wave of \u201cOperation True Promise 4\u201d bore a sticker of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s face, video shared by Iranian media shows.<\/p>\n
The display comes as S\u00e1nchez has repeatedly labeled the U.S.-Israeli actions \u201cillegal,\u201d \u201cunjustified,\u201d and\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/WdbAyPbVDa<\/p>\n
\u2014 Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) March 22, 2026<\/p>\n
The news, of course, was manna from heaven for Israel\u2019s Netanyahu government, which is trying its damnedest to drag European governments into the war \u2014 including, allegedly, by launching a false flag attack on the UK\u2019s Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. Here\u2019s the Israeli Foreign Ministry\u2019s response to S\u00e1nchez\u2019s newfound popularity in Iran, presented with the usual breathtaking hypocrisy:<\/p>\n
\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 Pedro S\u00e1nchez \u2013 Iran\u2019s mullah regime is thanking you by putting your words on the missiles it fires at civilians in Israel and the Arab world.<\/p>\n
How does it feel knowing your face & words are on these missiles?<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that Europe \u2013 including Spain \u2013 is within range of\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/emDyJPokkh<\/p>\n
\u2014 Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) March 23, 2026<\/p>\n
Just over three weeks ago, S\u00e1nchez became the first European head of state or government to categorically deny US forces permission to use jointly operated bases in their territory for the purpose of Trump\u2019s war against Iran. As we warned at the time, the move risked incurring the wrath of Trump, especially coming on top of Madrid\u2019s refusal to increase Spain\u2019s military spending to 5% of GDP and its recent imposition of sanctions on Israel.<\/p>\n
Trump responded initially by threatening to cut off all trade with Spain \u2014 a threat he has not yet delivered on, perhaps because the US has an actual trade surplus with Spain. Also, Spain\u2019s exports to the US account for around 4-5% of its total export base, according to Euro News. That is significantly less than some other European economies, including the Republic of Ireland (25%), Germany (10%), Italy (10%) and France (9%).<\/p>\n
Further complicating matters is the fact that many of the US\u2019 trade ties with Spain fall within broader trade agreements with the European Union. Meanwhile, new tariffs could get held up in US courts.\u00a0But all\u2019s not lost. In a recent WSJ op-ed, subtly titled \u201cHow Trump Can Punish Spain\u201c, Eugene Kontorovich, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, proposed another option: adding Spain to the US federal list of foreign boycotters:<\/p>\n
These laws provide significant authority to impose economic costs on Spain. They are a fitting tool, since they respond to the leftist turn by Spain\u2014a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member\u2014against America and its allies.<\/p>\n
These laws were adopted in the late 1970s with the Arab League Boycott of Israel in mind but were written generally to cover boycotts of any country with which the U.S. has normal trade relations. The laws have been repeatedly sustained by U.S. courts against challenges on First Amendment grounds. That is because they don\u2019t forbid companies themselves from boycotting a country on ideological grounds, only from doing so at the behest of or in concert with a foreign boycotting state.<\/p>\n
These antiboycott measures have been enforced with far less frequency in recent decades as Arab states increasingly abandoned their boycott of Israel. But late last year Spain joined Yemen, Iraq and a handful of other states maintaining an Israel boycott. The move was part of the same political orientation that led it to turn down the U.S. in its time of need.<\/p>\n
The Ribicoff Amendment, passed as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1976, requires that the Treasury Department maintain a \u201ccurrent list of countries which require or may require participation in or cooperation with an international boycott.\u201d Being on the list isn\u2019t harmful in itself but it does trigger tax consequences for U.S. companies doing business in listed countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo to War\u201d<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez\u2019s response to Trump\u2019s threat to cut all trade with Spain was to deliver a 10-minute televised address with the rather insipid title: \u201cAn institutional declaration by the prime minister to assess recent international events.\u201d In the speech, S\u00e1nchez dusted off the slogan used by millions of anti-war protesters 23 years ago against Bush, Blair and Aznar\u2019s Iraq misadventure: \u201cno a la guerra\u201d (no to war).*<\/p>\n
From The Guardian:<\/p>\n
The thrust of the Spanish prime minister\u2019s argument was that another war in the Middle East would claim numerous lives, further destabilise the world and have dire economic consequences \u2013 but many of its paragraphs were unambiguously personal.<\/p>\n
A government\u2019s overriding duty, said S\u00e1nchez, was to protect and improve the lives of its citizens, not to manipulate or profit from global conflicts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are incapable of fulfilling this duty use the smokescreen of war to hide their failure and, in the process, line the pockets of a select few \u2013 the same ones as always; the only ones who profit when the world stops building hospitals and starts building missiles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Then came the lines: \u201cIt is naive to believe that democracies or respect between nations can spring from ruins. Or to think that practising blind and servile obedience is a form of leadership \u2026 We will not be complicit in something that is bad for the world and that is also contrary to our values \u200b\u200band interests, simply out of fear of reprisals from someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who \u201csomeone\u201d was needed no explanation.<\/p>\n
A little added background to Spain\u2019s \u201cNo to War\u201d historic moment, courtesy of El Pa\u00eds:<\/p>\n
It is a slogan that brings back painful memories (for the PP) of Spain\u2019s support for a US invasion justified by a falsehood \u2013 weapons of mass destruction \u2013 of the start of a war that left Iraq in chaos and the demonstration of the left\u2019s capacity to rally and stage a comeback. Indirectly, it refers to the subsequent refusal of the government of Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Aznar and the PP of Mariano Rajoy to recognize the Islamist authorship of the 11-M attacks to prevent these attacks from being linked to Iraq.<\/p>\n
Since making his \u201cNo to War\u201d speech three weeks ago, S\u00e1nchez has continued to express opposition to the conflict in West Asia, including from the seat of EU power in Brussels:<\/p>\n
NOW : Spanish \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 PM Pedro S\u00e1nchez went for European Council meet and took stand against Trump on behalf of Europe <\/p>\n
“Not just Spain, entire Europe is against this illegal war in Iran. We won’t join it no matter what”<\/p>\n
Everywhere he goes, he bashes Trump and Netany\u2026 View more pic.twitter.com\/9pD8KUO5q4<\/p>\n
\u2014 Times of Iran News (@Timesofiraan) March 19, 2026<\/p>\n
In a speech to Spain\u2019s Congress on Friday, S\u00e1nchez stepped up his the war in a broadside against the refusal of his biggest opposition rival, the People\u2019s Party\u2019s Albert Feijoo, to take an unambiguous position on the war:<\/p>\n
\u00a0You do not make it clear whether you support Trump and Israel\u2019s war in Iran. You do not make it clear. But you cannot encourage and support those who start the fire and then complain about the effects of the smoke the fire causes. He has been wrong for 18 days of war.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Spaniard PM Pedro Sanchez on Iran war:<\/p>\n
“Trump is someone who will set the world on fire and then blame smoke caused by that. <\/p>\n
He has been wrong for 18 days of war. <\/p>\n
I urge everyone to call him out.”pic.twitter.com\/7yhxtWxzwY <\/p>\n
\u2014 Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 23, 2026<\/p>\n
If Spain\u2019s two main opposition parties, the Popular Party and far-right Vox, were to win the next election, the resulting government would not only unquestioningly support Trump\u2019s illegal wars in the Middle East, Latin America and wherever else but would also lend its full backing to Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza. It would be like having a Milei government in Southern Europe.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez demanded on Sunday the prompt reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and \u201cthe preservation of all energy deposits\u201d in the Middle East as strikes from both sides increasingly target energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The Art of Political Survival<\/p>\n
A few months ago, S\u00e1nchez appeared to be on the ropes as a succession of scandals, including one involving his own wife, rocked his government. Now, he is being held up as one of Europe\u2019s most important leaders after first downgrading Spain\u2019s diplomatic ties with Israel, earlier this month, and now emphatically rejecting Trump\u2019s demands for Europe to lend support for his disastrous illegal war of aggression against Iran.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez\u2019s foreign policy shift over the past year is as much about political expedience as it is morality. The \u201cFrankenstein\u201d coalition he<\/span> has led for almost eight years includes pacifist left-wing parties like Podemos, Bildu and Esquerra Republicana that could collapse the government if it agreed to support or facilitate the US\u2019 attacks against Iran. They consider what Israel is doing in Gaza as genocide, as does an overwhelming majority of the Spanish people.<\/span><\/p>\n When thousands of pro-Palestine protesters brought the final stage of the Vuelta cycling race to a grinding halt in protest of the participation of an Israeli team, S\u00e1nchez was left with a choice: condemn the acts and trigger the likely collapse of his government or hitch his wagon to the anti-genocide movement. And S\u00e1nchez is, if nothing else, an innate political survivor.<\/span><\/p>\n The contrast could not be starker with other European \u201cleaders\u201d, who have hemmed and hawed nonstop since the war against Iran began over three weeks ago. On Day one, Germany\u2019s Friedrich Merz pronounced from the Oval Room that he and President Trump were on the same page regarding Iran. He even backed Trump\u2019s proposal to embargo Spain, citing Madrid\u2019s failure to increase military spending.<\/p>\n NOW \u2013 Germany’s Merz supports U.S. embargoing Spain, claims it’s to “convince” them to increase NATO spending. pic.twitter.com\/YdVEi4ucsF<\/p>\n \u2014 Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) March 3, 2026<\/p>\n It then took Merz all of thirteen days to come to the conclusion that the US-Israeli war on Iran is not, after all, Berlin\u2019s war. But that does not mean that Berlin is not party to it:<\/p>\n GERMANY EXPOSED AS US VASSAL BY IRAN: RAMSTEIN WAR ROLE DEMANDED<\/p>\n Iran’s ambassador has delivered a sharp challenge to Berlin’s claims of neutrality. He demanded clarity on whether Ramstein Air Base is coordinating or supporting strikes against Iran. This question under\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/BCc8YU2lBv<\/p>\n \u2014 Mark (@Mark4XX) March 21, 2026<\/p>\n Read this carefully:<\/p>\n Under UN General Assembly Resolution 3314, the closest provision is Article 3(f). \u2014 Elijah J. Magnier \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@ejmalrai) March 21, 2026<\/p>\n The same goes for the United Kingdom whose Starmer government insists it will not be drawn into the US-Israeli war with Iran even as multiple US bombers take off each day from UK airbases to attack Iranian targets \u2014 but only as part of \u201cdefensive\u201d manoeuvres.<\/p>\n Nick Watt, “Keir Starmer said there is an attempt to put pressure on me and I’m not going to buckle”<\/p>\n Yanis Varoufakis, “Except, he did buckle”<\/p>\n Nick Watt, “Well, I’m not here to defend Keir Starmer”<\/p>\n Yanis Varoufakis, “He buckled”<\/p>\n Nick Watt, “Keir Starmer would say the UK is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/fD7UlVM8qe<\/p>\n \u2014 Farrukh (@implausibleblog) March 23, 2026<\/p>\n From a few years ago\u2026<\/p>\n European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen continues to provide cover for Washington and Tel Aviv\u2019s blatant war crimes in the Middle East, which has even prompted a stinging rebuke from former EU head gardener chief diplomat Josep Borrell.<\/p>\n \u201cUrsula von der Leyen is incapable of standing up to Washington. She is systematically biased when it comes to the USA and Israel, despite Europe suffering consequences in terms of energy prices, while Trump boasts that it is good for the United States because they are an oil exporter,\u201d Borrell noted, adding that Brussels \u201closes credibility by selectively applying international norms.\u201d<\/p>\n The less said about NATO chief Mark Rutte, the better. Suffice to say, as an op-ed in Spain\u2019s newspaper of record, El Pa\u00eds, points out, his credibility, like that of Von der Leyen and current EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas, is at rock bottom as he desperately tries to present NATO as a united front in support of Trump\u2019s disastrous war.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Spain\u2019s steadfast refusal to let the Trump administration use its two joint military bases on Spanish soil to wage its illegal war of aggression against Iran continues to provoke reactions around the world. One of the more interesting takes was from Professor Dani Rodrik, one of the world\u2019s most respected development economists. Rodrik was interviewed a few days ago by El Pa\u00eds. A few choice excerpts (machine translation).<\/p>\n Q. Brussels has opted for the policy of appeasement in the face of Trump. Q. The happy vassalage of Rutte, of Von der Leyen, of some chancelleries. Base Closures?<\/p>\n Which brings us to the final topic of this post \u2014 Trump\u2019s threat to close down the joint US-Spanish military bases at Rota and Moron as well as joint bases in Germany. The idea was first mooted in public by Senator Lindsay Graham, one of NATO\u2019s biggest fans until recently, who made the absurd claim that Spain\u2019s refusal to allow US troops to use its military facilities represented a breach of NATO\u2019s article 5 commitment to mutual defence (not aggression).<\/p>\n That apparently was more than enough to convince Trump that it was a great idea. On Friday, the president said US lawmakers like Graham are \u201cright about\u201d reconsidering American military bases in NATO countries, including Spain and Germany, following those countries\u2019 opposition to participation in the US-Israeli war against Iran.<\/p>\n Reporter: Lindsey Graham has asked for you to reconsider military bases in Spain, Germany \u2014 \u2014 Acyn (@Acyn) March 20, 2026<\/p>\n Some neo-cons in Washington have proposed that the US should move its troop presence in Spain to bases in Morocco, whose government is much closer to Israel. The US historian and former Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin has even suggested in a couple of articles for Middle East Forum that the US should recognise Spain\u2019s two protectorates in Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla, as Moroccan, just as it has done with the disputed territory of Western Sahara.<\/p>\n One can just imagine the scenes of panic these threats will be setting off in Brussels, Berlin and other European capitals. Most European governments, after failing to invest in their own defence and having watched the US start one chaos-inducing war after another in Europe\u2019s borderlands, are desperate for Trump to demonstrate a renewed commitment to NATO; instead he\u2019s threatening to close joint bases in Germany and Spain.<\/p>\n Just like the Gulf States, many EU leaders are desperately clinging on to Trump even as he tries to extort more and more from them. As El Mundo reports, the upcoming NATO leaders\u2019 summit on July 7 and 8 in Ankara is seen as pivotal for the future of the US-EU relationship (machine translation):<\/p>\n According to diplomatic sources, Europe must leave the meeting on Turkish territory having successfully sent a \u201cstrategic message\u201d to the US. This would consist of \u201cdemonstrating to President Trump that we are truly committed to transatlantic defence, rapidly increasing our European capabilities and, in this way, keeping him involved in European security\u201d, the same sources specify.<\/p>\n To accomplish this mission, Donald Trump cannot be irritated between now and the summer, which explains Merz\u2019s refusal to come to an EU ally\u2019s defence as Trump threatened it with an economic embargo in the Oval Room.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Absence of Alternatives\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, Merz was terrified of upsetting Trump. Same goes for most of the EU\u2019s lickspittle leaders. Yet as Rodrik points out, appeasement is not an option when dealing with Trump; not only does his word mean nothing but he will just keep coming back for more. Which is precisely what happened late yesterday, when Trump told the EU to sign a trade agreement with the US sharpish, or lose preferential access to US LNG.<\/p>\n As Shanaka Anslem Perera writes, \u201cthe proposed $750 billion deal is the permanent monetisation of Europe\u2019s energy vulnerability LNG\u201d:<\/p>\n Oil. Civil nuclear. Locked in until 2028. The EU had been delaying ratification for months. Three wars removed every alternative: Iran removed Qatar, Ukraine removed Russia, Norway\u2019s geology removed Norway. What remains is American LNG. Trump is not selling gas. He is selling the absence of alternatives.<\/p>\n The irony is hard to miss\u2026<\/p>\n So Europe got rid of cheap Russian gas because they feared they could be blackmailed by Putin in favor of expensive American gas and being actually blackmailed by Trump.<\/p>\n (this is also incidentally why it’s so stupid for Europe to cheerlead the US and Israel in the war on Iran) <\/p>\n \u2014 Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) March 24, 2026<\/p>\n Now that the US has Europe hooked on its LNG, it is using Europe\u2019s energy dependence as leverage for a new trade deal \u2014 one that will massively favour Washington and further vassalise Europe. For decades Europe\u2019s main energy provider was Russia, and the energy flowed more or less unhindered \u2014 at least until the war began in Ukraine. By contrast, the US has been the EU\u2019s biggest gas provider for barely two years and it is already turning the screw.<\/p>\n * Needless to say, S\u00e1nchez\u2019s \u201cNo to War\u201d policy does not extend to the war in Ukraine. Just five days ago, he signed an agreement with Volodymir Zelenksy offering \u20ac1 billion in additional funding for the war as well laying the ground for joint production of military drones.<\/p>\n
It states that aggression includes:
\u201cthe action of a State in allowing its territory, which it has placed at the disposal of another State, to be used by that other State for\u2026<\/p>\n![\"Imagen\"\/](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/HEKeZPSaIAEzfrA?format=jpg&name=medium\")
A. That is a complete mistake.
Q. What would you advise?
A. I think the position of the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, who has spoken so clearly, with such forcefulness on Gaza, on Iran and on Trump, is correct. It is an example for Europe. I wish the EU had been just as lucid, instead of getting into that race to satisfy Trump. That subservience to Trump makes no sense.<\/p>\n
A. With Trump, you can\u2019t do a typical risk analysis: he\u2019s unpredictable. To think that this tactic of appeasement can work is to ignore the psychology of his character: when he gets something he will want more. The ancient Greeks believed that the gods were capricious: I would tell Europeans that this is the way to view Trumpism, as a fickle and excessive leader. It is useless to think that giving him what he wants will satiate him. Europe should clearly define its objectives, its interests, always based on its values. That is exactly what Spain has done: stand up to Trump\u2019s aggressions\u2026 I believe that Europe must consider its position in a world in which it can no longer rely on the United States for its security.<\/p>\n
\u00a0
Trump: Well, he’s right about asking that. I think NATO has gone down a long way. They should be helping with the strait. They get much of their energy from the strait of hormuz, and if\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/5RysyqEGtd<\/p>\n![\"Print](\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/print-button-gray.png\")
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