{"id":47040,"date":"2026-03-05T13:17:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47040"},"modified":"2026-03-05T13:17:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:17:46","slug":"no-to-war-spanish-leader-sanchez-undeterred-by-trumps-trade-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/05\/no-to-war-spanish-leader-sanchez-undeterred-by-trumps-trade-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No to War\u2019: Spanish Leader S\u00e1nchez Undeterred by Trump\u2019s Trade Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Spanish<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez speaks during an event in Madrid on March 4, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Burak Akbulut\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European leaders expressed solidarity with Spain after Trump threatened a trade embargo in retaliation for the prime minister saying the US could not use Spanish military bases to attack Iran.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 04, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez on Wednesday appeared undaunted by President Donald Trump\u2019s threat to impose a full trade<\/a> embargo on Spain<\/a> in retaliation for its refusal<\/a> to allow the US to use its military bases to wage war on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a 10-minute televised address, S\u00e1nchez told the Spanish public that the country \u201cwill not be complicit in something that is bad for the world and contrary to our values and interests simply out of fear of reprisals from someone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US-GERMANY-POLITICS-TRUMP-MERZ\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump Threatens Full Trade Embargo Over Spain\u2019s Refusal to Be Complicit in Iran Attacks<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018War by Another Means\u2019: Union Movement Condemns Trump Economic Siege of Cuba<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite Trump\u2019s threat<\/a>, the Spanish government\u2019s position on the US and Israel\u2019s attacks on Iran, the prime minister said, can be summarized as \u201cno to war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The address came hours after Trump claimed the US military<\/a> would use Spain\u2019s military bases to launch warplanes \u201cif we want,\u201d despite Spanish Foreign Minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares\u2019 earlier statement that the facilities could not be used \u201cfor anything that isn\u2019t covered by the [United Nations<\/a>] Charter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US and Israel began attacking Iran early Saturday morning after Oman\u2019s foreign minister said<\/a> American and Iranian officials had been making progress toward a deal on Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal experts have said<\/a> the unprovoked attacks are a clear violation of international law<\/a> and the UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force unless it is \u201cauthorized by the UN Security Council or is a necessary and proportionate act of individual or collective self-defense in response to an armed attack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> stunned<\/a> observers this week when he claimed the US and Israel had waged war because of an \u201cimminent threat\u201d\u2014one that was posed because the US believed Israel was planning to strike Iran, and Iran was expected to retaliate against that potential attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, S\u00e1nchez said the US and Israeli strikes against Iran, which have so far killed more than 1,000 people, according<\/a> to Iranian officials, signify a \u201cbreakdown of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He compared the bombings to the George W. Bush<\/a> administration\u2019s invasion of Iraq, which led to eight years of war and killed over 100,000 Iraqi civilians, and warned against \u201crepeating the mistakes of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVery often great wars start with a chain of events spiraling out of control due to miscalculations, technical failures, and unforeseen circumstances,\u201d said the prime minister, who has also been outspoken in his opposition to Israel\u2019s US-backed assault on Gaza<\/a> and the Trump administration\u2019s invasion of Venezuela<\/a> in January. \u201cTherefore, we must learn from history and cannot play Russian roulette with the fate of millions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump on Tuesday also expressed anger over Spain\u2019s refusal to cave to his demand that all North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO<\/a>) member states commit to spending 5% of their gross domestic product on defense by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But other members of the European Union<\/a>, which collectively negotiates trade with the US, were quick to express solidarity<\/a> with Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who met with Trump at the\u00a0White House<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday,\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the president that European countries would not agree to a trade agreement with the US that didn\u2019t include Spain, while French President\u00a0Emmanuel Macron<\/a>\u00a0spoke to S\u00e1nchez to convey his \u201csolidarity.\u201d European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa also said he has spoken to the Spanish prime minister and reaffirmed the EU\u2019s \u201cfirm commitment to the principles of international law and the rules-based order everywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/sanchezcastejon\/status\/2029177722539294864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2029177722539294864%7Ctwgr%5E9a6448b7011f5b2c25307ab2badeaf6e05fa1ed1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftrump-spain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Europe\u2019s strong stance against Trump\u2019s threats, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday doubled down on the president\u2019s rhetoric, appearing<\/a> on CNBC<\/em> to accuse Spain of \u201cnot meeting their NATO requirement\u201d and of putting \u201cAmerican lives at risk\u201d by not allowing the US to use its bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9, the EU\u2019s internal market commissioner, was not deterred by Bessent\u2019s comments, warning<\/a> that \u201cany threat against member state is by definition a threat against the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that European countries already joined together this year to defend Greenland<\/a> from Trump\u2019s claim that he would take over the autonomous territory, part of the Danish kingdom, by force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you threaten one particular country… well, we\u2019ve seen that about Greenland,\u201d said S\u00e9journ\u00e9. \u201cI think we saw that there was a lot of unity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez speaks during an event in Madrid on March 4, 2026. \u00a0(Photo by Burak Akbulut\/Anadolu via Getty Images) European leaders expressed solidarity with Spain after Trump threatened a trade embargo in retaliation for the prime minister saying the US could not use Spanish military bases to… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47041,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47040\/revisions\/47041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}