{"id":503955,"date":"2026-03-30T19:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T19:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/503955\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T19:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T19:34:09","slug":"spain-closes-airspace-to-us-military-over-iran-war-widening-rift-with-us-us-israel-war-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/503955\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain closes airspace to US military over Iran war, widening rift with US | US-Israel war on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain has ramped up its opposition to the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a> by closing its airspace to US aircraft involved in attacks, underlining its position as Europe\u2019s leading critic of the conflict.<\/p>\n

The move, first reported by El Pa\u00eds newspaper and confirmed by the defence minister on Monday, comes after Madrid said the US could not use<\/a> jointly operated military bases in the country for operations related to the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t authorise either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran,\u201d the minister, Margarita Robles, told reporters. \u201cI think everyone knows Spain\u2019s position. It\u2019s very clear,\u201d she added, calling the war \u201cprofoundly illegal and profoundly unjust\u201d.<\/p>\n

The closure will force military planes, including those based in the UK and elsewhere in Europe<\/a>, to bypass Spain en route to targets in the Middle East except in emergencies.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, has already angered Donald Trump with his unequivocal opposition to the war. S\u00e1nchez has called on the US<\/a>, Israel and Iran to stop the war, saying: \u201cYou can\u2019t respond to one illegality with another because that\u2019s how humanity\u2019s great disasters begin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The refusal to let the US use the bases prompted Trump to threaten to cut off trade with Madrid.<\/p>\n

Asked on Monday if the move to restrict access to its airspace could worsen Spain\u2019s fraught relations with the White House, Carlos Cuerpo, the economy minister, told local radio: \u201cThis decision is part of the decision already made by the Spanish government not to participate in or contribute to a war which was initiated unilaterally and against international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez signalled the latest move when he told the Spanish congress last week: \u201cWe have denied the US the use of the bases at Rota and Mor\u00f3n [de la Frontera] in this illegal war. All flight plans related to the war in Iran have been rejected, including refuelling flights.\u201d<\/p>\n

US military aircraft can continue to use the bases within the terms of a bilateral agreement, such as providing logistics support to the 80,000 US forces based in Europe.<\/p>\n

But at the end of February, 15 American KC-135 refuelling planes based in Spain were diverted from Mor\u00f3n de la Frontera and Rota to bases in France and Germany.<\/p>\n

Responding to claims in the newspaper El Mundo that at least 70 US military flights had used the bases since the conflict began, Robles said the flights in question were military transports and that no fighter or refuelling planes were involved.<\/p>\n

Although B-2 and B-52 bombers have flown from bases in Spain on exercises, the only time they have been used to directly attack a third country was during the Gulf war in 1991 under the socialist government of Felipe Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n

\"WillWill Trump put boots on the ground in Iran? – The Latest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain has ramped up its opposition to the US-Israel war on Iran by closing its airspace to US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-503955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}