Sanchez brushes off reported Pentagon email mulling suspending Spain's NATO membership

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday refused to be drawn into a dispute with the United States over reports that the Pentagon is weighing options to punish members of NATO that refuse to support American military operations in the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The options discussed in the email include potentially suspending Spain from the military alliance and withdrawing US recognition of the UK's claim to the Falkland Islands off the coast of Argentina, a US official told Reuters.

Madrid has refused to allow US forces involved in the war to use bases on its territory or airspace, saying that the US-Israeli war against Iran contravenes international law. The US has two important military bases in Spain: Naval Station Rota and Moron Air Base.

“Well, we do not work with emails," Sanchez told reporters at a European Union summit in Cyprus. "We work with official documents and positions taken, in this case, by the government of the United States.” 

“The position of the government of Spain is clear: absolute collaboration with the allies, but always within the framework of international legality,” he said.

France and the UK also declined to give US forces free rein to use their territory for the bombing campaign.

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The internal Pentagon email outlines ​options for the United States to punish NATO allies including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the US position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands, the official said.

The policy options are detailed in a note prepared by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's top policy adviser, who expressed frustration at some allies' perceived reluctance or refusal to grant the United States access, basing and overflight rights – known as ABO – for the Iran ​war, said the official, who ‌spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the email.

Colby wrote that ABO is "just the absolute baseline for NATO", according to the official, who added that the options were circulating at high levels in ⁠the Pentagon.

As an organisation, NATO has no direct role in the Iran war except to defend its own territory.

One option in the email envisions suspending "difficult" countries from important or prestigious positions at NATO, the official said.

US President Donald Trump has also harshly criticised NATO allies for not sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran largely closed to global shipping following the start of the US-Israeli bombardment of Iran on February 28.

Asked for comment on the email, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson responded: "As President Trump has said, despite everything ​that the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us.

"The War Department will ensure that the President has credible options to ensure that ‌our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part. We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect," Wilson said.

Sending a message

The US-Israeli war with Iran has raised serious questions about the future of the 76-year-old bloc and provoked unprecedented concern that the US might not come to the aid of European allies should they be attacked, analysts and diplomats say.

Britain, France and others say that joining the US naval blockade would amount to ‌entering the war, but that they would be willing to help keep the Strait open once there was a lasting ceasefire or the conflict ended.

The policy options outlined in the email would be intended to send a strong signal to NATO allies with the goal of "decreasing the sense of entitlement on the part of the Europeans", the official said, summarising the email.

The option to suspend Spain from the alliance would have a limited effect on ​US military operations but a significant symbolic impact, the email argues.

The official did not disclose how the United States might pursue suspending Spain from the alliance. NATO operates by consensus, and all 32 member countries must agree for it to act.

The trans-Atlantic alliance's founding treaty has no mechanism for suspending or ejecting any of the members, although nations may leave of their own accord one year after notifying the other allies.

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The memo also includes an option to consider reassessing US diplomatic support for longstanding European "imperial possessions", such as the Falkland Islands near Argentina.

The State Department's website states that the islands ​are administered by the United Kingdom but are still claimed by Argentina, whose far-right libertarian President Javier Milei is a fierce Trump ally.

"We are doing everything humanly possible ​so that the Argentine Malvinas, the islands, the entire territory return to the hands of Argentina," Milei said in a radio interview he posted on his X account on Friday. "We're making progress like never before."

Britain and Argentina fought a brief but bloody war in 1982 over the islands after Argentina made a failed bid to take them. Some 650 Argentine soldiers and 255 British troops died before Argentina surrendered.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the sovereignty of the islands rests with Britain.

"Sovereignty rests with the UK and the islands' right to self-determination is paramount. It's been our consistent position and will remain the case," the spokesperson told reporters on Friday.

"The Falkland Islands have previously voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining a UK overseas territory,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly insulted Starmer, calling him cowardly because of his unwillingness to join the US war with Iran, saying he was "No Winston Churchill" and describing ⁠Britain's aircraft carriers as "toys".

Britain initially did not grant a request from the US to allow its aircraft to attack Iran from two British bases, but later agreed to allow "defensive missions" aimed at protecting residents of the region, including British citizens, as Iran retaliated against countries in the region hosting US military bases.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AP)