Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez has warned of the potential 'global scale' consequences after Donald Trump threatened to 'cut all trade' with Spain.
The 54-year-old is perhaps the only European politician to publicly condemn the actions of Trump in the wake of the recent strikes on Iran, which have perhaps pushed geopolitical tensions to an all-time high, with several other countries forcibly involved after Iran launched retaliatory strikes.
When Sánchez was asked for his thoughts on the ongoing conflict, he summed it up in three words by simply suggesting 'no to war'.
He also said that his country would 'not be complicit in something that is bad for the world – and that is also contrary to our values and interests – simply out of fear of reprisals from someone'.
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This, along with Sánchez refusing to grant the US permission to use their jointly operated bases in southern Spain to continue its attacks in Iran, saw Trump label Spain as 'terrible', while he also threatened to 'cut off all dealings' with the European country.
Now Sánchez has doubled down on his criticism of all parties in the war, calling for the US, Israel and Iran to all stop the war before it was too late in his Wednesday address.
He said: "You can’t respond to one illegality with another because that’s how humanity’s great disasters begin.
"You can’t play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions … Nobody knows for sure what will happen now. Even the objectives of those who launched the first attack are unclear.
"But we must be prepared, as the proponents say, for the possibility that this will be a long war, with numerous casualties and, therefore, with serious economic consequences on a global scale.”
Sánchez pointed towards the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which was done for similar reasoning as the US sought to discover if Iraq had access to weapons of mass destruction.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are incapable of fulfilling this duty use the smokescreen of war to hide their failure and, in the process, line the pockets of a select few – the same ones as always; the only ones who profit when the world stops building hospitals and starts building missiles,” he said.
However, Trump has been less than pleased with the lack of support from both Spain and the US, bemoaning that Keir Starmer wasn't Winston Churchill, while also complaining about Spain's stance on Nato’s proposal for member states to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP.
Trump said: “Everybody was enthusiastic about it – Germany, everybody – and Spain didn’t do it. And now Spain said we can’t use their bases – and that’s OK. We could use their bases; if we wanted, we could just fly in and use it [sic]. Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it. But we don’t have to. But they were unfriendly.”
Iran strikes: what you need to know
Why are the United States and Israel attacking Iran?
US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday (28 February) that the US and Israel have started 'major combat operations' in Iran after explosions were heard in multiple cities across the country.
Following a significant buildup of US forces in the region in recent weeks, Trump declared in a video posted on Truth Social that 'we are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground'.
Alongside hundreds of civilian casualties - including at least 165 people, most children, after a reported strike hit a school in Minab - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was confirmed dead following Israeli missile strikes around Tehran.
According to Trump, the aim of this weekend's attacks were to 'ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon'.
This has come after weeks of Trump threatening military action in Iran if the Middle Eastern country did not agree to a new deal over its nuclear programme. However, Iran has insisted repeatedly that its nuclear activities are 'entirely peaceful'.
What areas of the Middle East have been affected?
In retaliation to the US and Israeli strikes, Iran has launched strikes of its own on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, which include Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The BBC reports that at least nine people were killed in a strike on the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, while military and civilian targets - including an American naval base in Bahrain and Dubai's international airport in the United Arab Emirates - were also targeted across the weekend.
Several videos have been posted on social media from tourists and civilians that show the damage inflicted across these areas from missile and drone strikes, including many British citizens who are currently stranded in Dubai.
Meanwhile, after Lebanon's Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah fired missiles at the Israeli city of Haifa, Israel responded with its own strikes.
On Tuesday (3 March), Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz promised IDF troops on the ground would 'advance and seize additional strategic areas in Lebanon in order to prevent fire on Israeli border communities'.
Is the UK going to war with Iran?
This is a question that has been asked repeatedly since the major combat operation began in Iran, due to the nation being an ally of both the United States and Israel.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed that British planes were 'in the sky' in the Middle East as part of a defensive operation 'to protect our people, our interests and our allies', and condemned Iran's retaliatory attacks on 'partners across the region'.
On Sunday (1 March), the prime minister also agreed to a request from the US to launch strikes against Iran from British military bases.
While the UK did not participate in the strikes, Starmer released a joint statement with the leaders of France and Germany, calling for Iran to 'refrain from indiscriminate military strikes'.
"Iran can end this now," Starmer said. "They should refrain from further strikes, give up their weapons programme and cease the appalling violence and oppression of the Iranian people – who deserve the right to determine their own future."
However, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Yvette Cooper, has said it is 'simply not true' that the UK is being dragged into another Iraq-style conflict in the Middle East.
While addressing a reported drone strike on a RAF base in Cyprus believed to have originated from Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, she told Sky News on Monday, 2 March: "We took a very specific decision not to provide support for strikes that were taking place over this weekend. We have been clear that we believe there should be a diplomatic process, negotiations process."
Trump, for his part, slammed Starmer on Tuesday, saying he 'has not been helpful' in the context of the situation in Iran.
He added: "It's very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was."
Topics: Donald Trump, Iran
James Moorhouse