March 4 (UPI) -- The leaders of Spain and Canada set themselves at odds with President Donald Trump over the United States' military offensive against Iran with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling it a "disaster."
In a televised address on Wednesday, Sanchez suggested the U.S. administration had failed to heed the lessons of history, including the U.S-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and said his government was opposed to its latest military intervention in the region.
Speaking hours after Trump threatened to punish Madrid's refusal to permit two of its bases to be used to launch strike missions against Iran by severing all trade, Sanchez spelled out his administration's "No to war" position.
"Very often great wars start with a chain of events spiralling out of control due to miscalculations, technical failures, and unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, we must learn from history and cannot play Russian roulette with the fate of millions," said Sanchez.
"The question is not if we are on the side of the ayatollahs -- nobody is. The question is whether we are in favour of peace and international legality. You cannot answer one illegality with another, because that is how the great catastrophes of humanity begin," he added.
