The government of Spain, led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, ordered the closure of its airspace to flights from the United States participating in the American and Israeli war against Iran, which completed one month on Saturday (28).
Spain also does not allow the use of its Rota and Morón air bases by American planes, nor does it authorize military aircraft deployed in other European countries to use Spanish airspace, as published this Monday (30) by the newspaper El País and sources from the Spanish Ministry of Defense confirmed to EFE.
Previously, the Sánchez government had already announced, for the current conflict in the Middle East, the refusal to use military bases, operated jointly with the USA as regulated in a bilateral agreement, which led American President Donald Trump to threaten to cut off trade with the European country.
The ban announced this Monday does not affect commercial flights, according to sources from the Spanish air navigation manager Enaire, who told EFE, it is restricted to military air operations only.
Subsequently, the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, assured that the government communicated “clearly” to the USA, since the beginning of the military operation, that Spain did not authorize the use of the bases or the use of its airspace for war-related operations.
Spain “will not authorize in any case, nor has it, nor will it, the use of the Rota and Morón bases to wage a war to which we are totally opposed, in which we do not believe and which seems to us to be deeply illegal and deeply unfair”, reiterated the minister.
Asked whether the closure of airspace could deteriorate or harm relations with the USA, Spanish First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, commented that the measure is part of the government’s position of not participating in or contributing to a war, according to him, initiated in a “unilateral” manner and “against international legality”.
Cuerpo claimed that Spanish companies currently work under the same conditions as other European companies in the USA and that the Executive’s objective is to try to improve bilateral relations between Madrid and Washington.
In an interview with radio station Cadena Ser, the minister announced the opening of two new economic offices in Boston and Houston to help Spanish companies establish themselves in the United States “in an effective and successful way”.
Washington has not yet commented on Madrid’s announcement. This is not the first time that Trump and Sánchez have had disagreements over military issues.
Last year, when, after Trump’s demands, NATO countries agreed to invest at least 5% of GDP in defense by 2035, the only country in the military alliance that refused to commit to the new target was Spain, which led Trump to suggest that the Iberian country be expelled from NATO.
Furthermore, Sánchez took a series of actions against Israel, a great American ally, by calling the Israeli offensive against the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip a “genocide” (conflict currently under ceasefire), recognizing the Palestinian State and joining the case that South Africa filed against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), among other measures.
