When American and Israeli strikes hit Iranian military targets in March 2026, most European governments offered polite words of concern and quickly moved on. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez went much further. He loudly declared “No to war,” shut Spanish airspace to American military flights, barred the U.S. from using the Rota naval base and Morón air base, recalled diplomats, and turned Spain into Europe’s most strident opponent of the campaign against Iran — a campaign he has repeatedly branded “an illegal, absurd and cruel war.”

Behind the rhetoric lies a troubling record of material support. According to official figures from Spain’s Secretary of State for Trade, Sánchez’s government green-lit $1.54 million worth of dual-use exports to Iran in 2024 and the first half of 2025. The list included detonators, explosives (types A, B, and E), chemical reagents, control software, and high-precision machine tools — CNC lathes, milling machines, and machining centers. Ironically, almost 70% of these items were delivered to state-linked or government-owned Iranian companies. Virtually the entire sum consisted of Category 2 machine tools specifically suited for the precision manufacturing of missiles and drones.

This is not an isolated lapse. Since Sánchez came to power in 2018, Spain has approved roughly $7 million in dual-use technologies with clear military and nuclear-adjacent applications for Tehran. In 2024 alone, machinery exports exceeded $80 million. The same year Spain also sent Iran $27.5 million in industrial furnaces and $16.4 million in valves — equipment that can be repurposed with ease by Iran’s defense industry. All told, Spanish defense-related exports to Iran have reached $198.72 million.

Tehran has been quick to repay the favor. The Iranian embassy in Madrid still houses military and intelligence attachés who openly conduct an anti-Western “crusade” from Spanish soil. In March 2026, Ambassador Reza Zabib used a public appearance in the Spanish capital to boast that Iran could strike any American base in Europe — explicitly naming Rota and Morón.

The practical result is now visible on the battlefield. Spanish-made components are feeding the Iranian production lines that turn out the very ballistic missiles and drones being fired at Israel and at American forces across the Middle East. In tandem, Iranian state media proudly pastes Pedro Sánchez’s anti-war statements onto its missiles, turning them into propaganda trophies.

Thus, a NATO member that hosts vital U.S. bases has chosen instead to supply technology to the enemy while refusing to assist its allies. By betraying the West, Spain has opened a visible crack in alliance unity at the exact moment Iran was testing its missile barrages against Israeli defenses.

For Iran, Spain has become more than just a “sanctions-busting lifeline” inside Europe. The steady stream of precision machine tools and dual-use parts gives Tehran’s military-industrial complex breathing space it would otherwise lack. Iranian engineers use this equipment to perfect guidance systems, warhead casings, and propulsion components for the missiles and drones now threatening regional stability. In addition, Spain’s vocal diplomatic criticism only reinforces Tehran’s belief that the West is divided and open to exploitation.

Spain, a nation of 48 million people and a full NATO member, has decided that inexpensive commerce with China, an obsessive pursuer of recognition from the international left and radicals’ domestic applause matters more than alliance discipline and collective security. Deplorably, Madrid has kept the supply lines open to a regime that threatens not only the United States but Israel and the broader West.

The choice facing Madrid today is simple and important: continue feeding Iran’s war machine and fracturing the alliance, or finally start acting like a responsible partner in an era when precision weapons and hard power decide outcomes.

Tragically, the way things look, the Sánchez government – ​​riddled with corruption and characterized by its dubious alliances with China and Iran – makes it more than obvious that Spain is already outside of NATO’s collective strategy and the ideological framework that has characterized the West for the past thousand years.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)