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.”
