Spain announces closing its airspace to American planes involved in the war against Iran.

Following the American-Israeli intervention in Iran, Spain has decided to close its airspace to American aircraft involved in the Middle East war.

Spain, whose left-wing government is “completely opposed” to the American-Israeli attacks on Iran, has closed its airspace to American planes involved in this war, the Spanish Defense Minister announced on Monday.

“The use of bases (American in Spain, ed.) is not authorized, and of course the use of Spanish airspace for actions related to the war in Iran is not authorized either,” Margarita Robles stated in comments sent to AFP, confirming a report from the newspaper El País.

In reality, “Spain’s refusal to cooperate has complicated the American operation” in the Middle East, El País asserts, as some of Washington’s bombers had to “bypass the Iberian Peninsula to enter through the Strait of Gibraltar,” forcing them to “alter their routes” and logistics.

“The Spanish veto has only one exception: in case of emergency, the transit or landing of the aircraft concerned is authorized,” the newspaper continues, which Margarita Robles did not specify from her side.

Spain opposed to the ongoing war

The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has strongly opposed the war led by the United States and Israel against Iran since February 28, calling it “illegal” and an “extraordinary mistake.”

These comments have drawn sharp criticism from the American President Donald Trump, who threatened in retaliation to “end” all bilateral trade after Madrid refused to allow the American army to use its two bases located in Spain in their military operation against Iran.

However, El País specifies that “all missions planned under the bilateral agreement with Washington remain in force” concerning these two American bases in Andalusia, in southern Spain. The naval base of Rota and the air base of Morón are inherited from an agreement signed between Washington and Madrid in 1953 under Franco.

Beyond the war in the Middle East, Donald Trump has been reproaching Spain for several months for not increasing its military spending to 5% of GDP, as required by the new NATO target pushed by the White House tenant.