Pedro Sanchez brushes off rumors Spain facing possible NATO suspension
by Paul Godfrey · UPIApril 24 (UPI) -- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday dismissed an alleged leak from the U.S. Department of Defense suggesting that Spain could face being suspended from NATO in retaliation for not supporting the United States in its war with Iran.
Arriving in Cyprus for a meeting of European Union leaders, Sanchez said he was not worried and that Spain was fully compliant with its treaty commitments to the collective defense pact.
"No worries. The Spanish government's position is clear: absolute cooperation with our allies, but always within the framework of international law," was his response to questions regarding a leaked Pentagon email setting out potential actions that could be taken against NATO allies who failed to adequately support the war or were otherwise seen as uncooperative.
However, Sanchez refused to be drawn directly on the alleged contents of the internal U.S. government communication leaked by a U.S. official to Reuters, which broke the story on Friday.
He said the Spanish government could talk about relevant official U.S. documents and policy positions but "does not comment on emails."
An outspoken critic of the U.S. military offensive against Iran, Spain was highlighted as the prime candidate for being ejected from NATO, but the United Kingdom was also earmarked for retribution with a proposal pitching a rethink of Washington's support for British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
In 1982, Britain fought and won a 74-day war with Argentina over the South Atlantic territory after its forces overran and seized the islands.
President Donald Trump was incensed by Sanchez's refusal to permit U.S. military aircraft to use U.S.-Spanish airbases or Spain's airspace to launch strikes on Iran, culminating in him threatening to sever bilateral trade.
Britain initially denied permission for U.S. warplanes to use its airbases but relented two days or so after the start of the war on Feb. 28, allowing aircraft engaged in "defensive" missions to fly out of RAF bases in Britain and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
The Pentagon, which the Trump administration moved to rename to the Department of War, appeared to justify taking some type of punitive action.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said NATO allies "were not there for us" regardless of "everything" the United States had done for them.
"The War 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. We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect," she added.
Calling NATO "a source of strength," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was also attending the EU summit, called for unity.
"We must work to strengthen Nato's European pillar... which must clearly complement the American one," she said.
Berlin dismissed the idea Spain's position within NATO was under any threat.
"Spain is a member of NATO. And I see no reason why that should change," a German government spokesman said at a regular news briefing on Friday.
The 1949 treaty under which NATO was formed by the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway and Iceland as a response to the Cold War contains no process or means for the expulsion or suspension of a member country.
Former NATO spokesperson and senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, Oana Lungescu, also dismissed the idea Spain could be suspended.
"It's hard to know how seriously we should take such emails beyond ideological trolling," she said.
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