The United States: Are they going to carry out their threats? Highly critical of its NATO allies’ actions in the Middle East, Washington is considering several measures against other members of the politico-military organization, according to Reuters agency citing an internal email from the Pentagon on Friday. This note details the various options that Washington has against other NATO members, non-belligerent towards Iran. Among the possibilities presented by this note, the suspension of Spain from the alliance, with Madrid having decided as of the end of March to close its airspace to American military aircraft, including refueling tankers.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has repeatedly criticized US President Donald Trump and Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. For several months, Donald Trump has also reproached Spain for not increasing its military spending to 5% of GDP, as required by the new NATO target pushed by Washington. As Reuters points out, the United States has two military bases in Spain: Rota Naval Base and Morón Air Base.
“We don’t work on the basis of emails, we work on the basis of official documents and positions that the United States government formulates,” responded Pedro Sánchez to Spanish journalists. “The position of the Spanish government is clear: absolute cooperation with our allies, but always within the framework of international legality,” he continued.
Withdrawal of American troops not considered
Would it be technically possible? No answer to this question in the Pentagon email, according to Reuters, which is also not aware of such a suspension mechanism. In any case, suspending Spain from NATO would have limited military effects, but the symbolism would be significant, according to the Department of Defense.
Among the other options is a possible reassessment of American support for European “imperial possessions” such as the Malvinas Islands (off the coast of Argentina), a British overseas territory claimed by Argentina. As noted by Reuters, Argentine President Javier Milei is also an ally of Donald Trump. Similarly, without providing further details, the option of suspending “difficult” countries from their important roles in NATO is being considered.
Could the United States go as far as to leave NATO? “Wouldn’t you do it in my place?” replied Donald Trump to Reuters on April 1. However, this hypothesis is not put forward in the internal Pentagon email, which does not mention the closure of American bases in Europe. “As President Trump said, despite all that the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us,” Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson responded to Reuters.
