Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez qualified the US-Israeli war with Iran as “an extraordinary mistake”, adding that this conflict is “clearly outside international legality”, reports the BBC, according to News.ro.
“This war in Iran is, in my opinion, in the sense of Spain, an extraordinary mistake for which we will pay,” Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared at a press conference.
Donald Trump and Pedro Sanchez have been in sharp conflict for several days, with the former accusing the latter of not allowing his armed forces to use two bases located in southern Spain to attack Iran.
“Among allied countries, it is good to help each other when you are right and to point out when someone is wrong or commits an error, as is the case now,” said the Spanish prime minister.
During a meeting with German Chancellor Friderich Merz at the White House on Tuesday, Donald Trump criticized the Spanish government and threatened to cut trade ties with Madrid.
“We will cut off all trade with Spain,” Trump said. “We want nothing to do with Spain,” the US leader added.
It is the first time that Trump has threatened to completely cut off trade ties, although it is unclear how easy it will be to implement his intention, given that Spain is part of the EU and the US has negotiated a trade deal with the European Commission, which represents all member states.
“This is how great disasters begin”
The Spanish prime minister also insisted on Wednesday that he would not give in to trade pressure from Donald Trump and criticized the war.
“This is how the great disasters of humanity begin. You cannot play Russian roulette with the fate of millions of people,” Sanchez said in a televised address to the nation, quoted by Reuters.
“The position of the Spanish government can be summed up in four words: 'No to war,'” he said, adding that the position is a coherent one.
“We're not going to be complicit in something that's bad for the world and against our values and our interests just to avoid somebody's retaliation,” Sanchez said, apparently referring to Trump's threats.
