Donald Trump has ordered his administration to “cut off all dealings” with Spain in retaliation for the country’s refusal to let the US use Spanish military bases to attack Iran.
The US president on Tuesday also said Sir Keir Starmer is “not Winston Churchill” as he reiterated that he is “not happy” with Britain over its initial decision not to allow US forces to use UK bases to strike Iran.
Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday that “some of the European nations have been helpful and some haven’t” in the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, heaping praise on Germany and singling out Dutch Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte as “fantastic”.
The threat to Madrid marks a new low in relations between Trump and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the EU’s most senior leftwing leader, who has clashed with the White House over issues from defence spending and Gaza to China and the power of Big Tech.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump said of Madrid’s refusal to let the US send jets and ships to attack Iran from two jointly operated military facilities in Spain.
“In fact, I told Scott [Bessent, US Treasury secretary] to cut off all dealings with Spain,” Trump added. “We are going to cut all trade with Spain.”
Calling Spain “unfriendly”, he recalled that Sánchez was the only Nato leader who refused last year to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP.
Trump said: “Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people, but they don’t have great leadership.”
Turning to Britain, the US president said: “I’m not happy with the UK.” He signalled his discontent with Starmer approving a plan to give away sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and to lease back the island of Diego Garcia, which houses a joint UK-US military base.
Trump also expressed frustration that the UK had not allowed the US to launch its initial strikes on Iran from Diego Garcia.
“It’s taken three to four days for us to work out where we can land there, it would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we were very surprised,” he said.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump said of Starmer, invoking the UK prime minister during the second world war who forged a close relationship with Washington.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office for the third time since taking office last year, displayed little solidarity for Madrid.
Asked about Trump’s willingness to cut trade ties with Spain, Merz said Germany was “trying to convince” Madrid to meet its Nato spending requirements.
Merz, the first EU leader to meet Trump since the US-Israeli strikes, said he wanted to discuss a swift implementation of the EU-US trade deal struck last summer in Scotland, as well as talk about support for Ukraine.
Contrary to Spain, the chancellor has sought to justify the attacks on Tehran, arguing on Sunday that “now is not the time to lecture” the US and Israel on whether they had complied with international law.
“We are supporting the US and Israel in getting rid of this terrible regime and we have to talk about the day after,” he said.
By contrast, Sánchez has said that the war in Iran is contributing to “a more hostile and uncertain international order”.
In response to Trump’s threat, a Spanish government official said Spain was a “reliable trading partner” with 195 countries, including the US.
“If the US administration wishes to review this relationship, it must do so while respecting the autonomy of private companies, international law and the bilateral agreements between the EU and the US,” the official said. “Our country has the necessary resources to contain potential impacts, support sectors that may be affected, and diversify supply chains.”
The UK prime minister on Monday challenged the strikes on Iran, saying: “This government does not believe in regime change from the skies.”
Starmer initially did not allow US planes to use British air bases during the first attacks against Iran, although he subsequently allowed them access to help defend UK interests and Gulf allies from Tehran’s retaliatory strikes.
When asked if Starmer would agree that the UK-US “special relationship” is not what it was, the prime minister’s spokesperson said: “President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes. But it is the PM’s duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest.”
They added: “The UK’s relationship with the US is longstanding and reflects decades of close co-operation.”
On Tuesday, UK officials said the British government was considering sending HMS Duncan, a Type 45 destroyer, to Cyprus following a drone attack on RAF Akrotiri, a British military base on the southern coast of the island. Families have since been moved off the base as a precaution, UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday.
Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister, declined to say on Tuesday whether Britain thought the US attack on Iran was legal, but he told the BBC: “I think the president’s frustration is that we weren’t involved in the initial American and Israeli strikes in Iran.
“But as the prime minister said, we will only engage British armed forces when it’s in British interests with a clear plan and on a legal basis. We are not getting involved in a wider conflict in the Middle East.”
A YouGov survey published on Tuesday found that 50 per cent of Britons oppose the US using RAF bases to launch strikes on Iranian missile depots and launchers, while 32 per cent support the policy.
Overall, 45 per cent of Britons say the UK government should neither praise nor condemn the US for the Iran attacks, while 21 per cent are calling on London to condemn Washington, with 12 per cent urging praise, according to the survey.
Additional reporting by Mari Novik