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U.S. relations with NATO ally Spain appear to have hit a modern low. On the very first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the countries’ actions as violations of international law and denied Washington the use of airfields in Spain for the purposes of conducting attacks. Spain eventually closed its entire airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the conflict.

“The war with Iran is illegal, and Spain has condemned it from the outset,” Sánchez said last month. The United States and Iran reached a tenuous two-week cease-fire on April 7.

U.S. relations with NATO ally Spain appear to have hit a modern low. On the very first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the countries’ actions as violations of international law and denied Washington the use of airfields in Spain for the purposes of conducting attacks. Spain eventually closed its entire airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the conflict.

“The war with Iran is illegal, and Spain has condemned it from the outset,” Sánchez said last month. The United States and Iran reached a tenuous two-week cease-fire on April 7.

U.S. policymakers’ reactions to Spain’s position were swift and predictable. In early March, President Donald Trump threatened to “cut off” all trade with Spain, while Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime proponent of U.S. intervention against Iran, called for removing U.S. military bases from Spain entirely. So far, Washington has not followed through on either threat, though the U.S. right clearly still has an appetite for trying to “punish” Spain, as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal recently proposed.

In Europe, Spain’s opposition to Trump’s war stands in stark contrast to many other U.S. allies, which have adopted more cautious positions. Britain, whose air bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia came under attack, has allowed the United States to conduct what it terms “defensive” operations from British bases. France also moved to redeploy naval forces from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Germany, meanwhile, initially provided robust rhetorical support for the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz arguing that international law did not apply to Iran. Only more recently did Berlin shift its stance, as Defense Minister........

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