Sánchez Hits Back at Trump: Spain Will Not Be Bullied Into War

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke on the morning of 4 March and responded to US President Donald Trump’s threat to cut trade ties with Spain over the country’s refusal to take part in the US and Israeli military operation against Iran. The address came after Trump publicly warned that he could break off trade relations with Madrid.

Sánchez said the government’s position could be summed up in three words: “No to war.” “No to the collapse of international law. No to the idea that the world can solve its problems only through conflict and the use of bombs. And finally, no to repeating the mistakes of the past,” he said.

The prime minister called on the United States, Israel and Iran to stop the fighting, which began on 28 February with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, “before it is too late”. “This crisis affects us all, and we demand that the United States, Iran and Israel act with full determination to bring it to an end before it is too late. One violation of the law must not be followed by another. That is how the greatest catastrophes in human history begin,” he said.

He argued that the current conflict would do nothing to improve the international situation or raise wages. Sánchez also recalled the US-led war in Iraq in 2003, which he said “left the world more unstable and people’s quality of life worse”. He noted that at the time America drew Europe into war in order to “destroy Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, establish democracy and guarantee global security”. “In reality, it had the opposite effect,” Sánchez said.

The prime minister said he was convinced that the present conflict would also worsen the global situation. He stressed that Spain opposes escalation and views what is happening as “a catastrophe”.

“It is unacceptable for some presidents to use the smoke of war to cover up their failures and line the pockets of the same old crowd that profits from making missiles instead of building hospitals.”

Pedro Sánchez

He added that the Spanish government condemns the Iranian regime, which kills its own citizens, but still calls for a “diplomatic and political solution”. “Some will say that this is naïve. What is naïve is believing that democracy or respect between people can rise from ruins. Or thinking that blind, servile loyalty is leadership, when in fact the opposite is true. We are not going to become accomplices to something that is bad for the world out of fear of reprisals from anyone,” Sánchez said.