Israel has hit back at the Spanish government’s refusal to give the US permission to use jointly operated military bases on its territory to attack Iran, accusing the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, of being on the wrong side of history.
View image in fullscreenSpanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez speaks during a press conference last month. Photograph: Yves Herman/ReutersSánchez has explicitly condemned the US and Israel’s “unilateral military action” against Iran, warning that it is contributing to “a more hostile and uncertain international order”. The rebukes have been reinforced by his government’s refusal to allow the US to use bases in Rota and Morón for the continuing strikes against Iran.
In a post on X on Monday evening, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, accused Sánchez - a staunch critic of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza - of pandering to terrorists and oppressive regimes.
“First, Hamas thanked Sánchez,” wrote Sa’ar. “Then the Houthis thanked Sánchez. Now Iran thanks him. Is that being on the “right side” of history?”
Sa’ar also retweeted criticism of Sánchez from the US Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who wrote:
“The current government in Spain is becoming the gold standard of pathetically weak European leadership that has lost its moral way, apparently reluctant to condemn the terrorist regime in Iran and have nothing but criticism for the United States.”
On Saturday, Sánchez said Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s offensive was making the world less stable and called for a lasting political solution to the conflict.
He returned to the theme in a speech in Barcelona on Sunday.
“Today, more than ever, it’s vital to remember that you can be against a hateful regime – as Spanish society is as a whole when it comes to the Iranian regime – and, at the same time, against an unjustified and dangerous military intervention that is outside international law,” he said.
