Spain Closes Airspace to US War Planes 03/31 06:19

   

   MADRID (AP) -- Spain closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the Iran 
war, officials said Monday, in another step by Europe's loudest critic of U.S. 
and Israeli military actions in the monthlong conflict.

   The country earlier said that the U.S. couldn't use jointly operated 
military bases in the war, which Prime Minister Pedro Snchez has described as 
illegal, reckless and unjust. Defense Minister Margarita Robles said that the 
same logic applied to the use of Spanish airspace.

   "This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the 
very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is 
the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in 
Iran," Robles told reporters, describing the conflict as "profoundly illegal 
and profoundly unjust."

   Snchez has called on the U.S., Israel and Iran to end the war.

   "You cannot respond to one illegality with another, because that's how 
humanity's great disasters begin," he said earlier this month.

   U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Spain's leaders are "bragging" 
about cutting off its airspace, even as Washington has pledged to defend the 
NATO member. He said that the trans-Atlantic military alliance is useful for 
the U.S., because it "allows us to station troops and aircraft and weapons in 
parts of the world that we wouldn't normally have bases, and that includes in 
much of Europe."

   "But if NATO is just about us defending Europe if they're attacked, but then 
denying us basing rights when we need them, that's not a very good 
arrangement," Rubio told Al Jazeera on Monday. "That's a hard one to stay 
engaged in and say this is good for the United States. So all of that is going 
to have to be reexamined."

   After Snchez's government denied the U.S. use of the Rota and Morn 
military bases in southern Spain, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut 
trade with Madrid.

   Washington made trade threats last year, too, when Snchez said that his 
government wouldn't increase its defense spending in accordance with a deal 
agreed to by other NATO members following Trump's pressure.

   At the time, Snchez's government said that Spain could meet its military 
commitments by spending 2.1% of gross domestic product on defense, instead of 
the 5% the rest of the 32-nation military alliance agreed upon.

   Snchez also has been among the most vocal critics of Israel's actions 
during the war in Gaza, which has invited criticism from Israel's government on 
several occasions.

   No comment from NATO

   Spain's new decision against a NATO ally is rare, though not unprecedented. 
NATO didn't comment, referring questions to national authorities.

   "NATO allies operate with a presumption of cooperation, but of course they 
retain sovereignty,'' said Daniel Baer, director of the Europe Program at the 
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former U.S. ambassador to the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

   In an incident that strained trans-Atlantic ties, France and Italy blocked 
the U.S. military from using their airspace for an operation targeting Libyan 
leader Moammar Gadhafi in 1986.

   In 2003, NATO member Turkey refused to allow American troops to use its 
territory to invade Iraq, though it did allow overflights. France and Germany 
firmly opposed that war, but allowed U.S. and British fighter jets to fly over 
their airspace.

   France's then foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, despite a famed U.N. 
speech against the Bush administration's plans to invade, told the French 
parliament at the time that "there are practices between allies that exist that 
we must respect, including overflight rights."

   Europe between a rock and a hard place

   Spain's decision reflects broader concerns among traditional U.S. partners 
since Trump returned to office.

   "The relationship with the U.S. was already strained," Baer said. "Allies 
can generally be counted on, but they can't be taken for granted."

   Still, he's doubtful that other European countries would follow Spain's 
example.

   "Most Europeans are focused on keeping some measure of U.S. cooperation in 
supporting Ukraine, so I think it's less likely that others join, even as they 
voice concerns about a lack of clarity around U.S. strategic objectives in 
Iran,'' he said.