Washington (United States) (AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed out at Britain and Spain for not fully backing his attack on Iran, as he threatened to end “all trade” with Spain. “I’m not happy with the UK,” Trump said, referring to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.” Britain, a steadfast ally of the United States throughout the two world wars and in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, decided not to join the assault on Iran that Trump launched with Israel on Saturday.
Starmer stated that US fighter jets could use two UK air bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose” — one in Gloucestershire in western England and the other at the joint UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. He also mentioned that the United States was not authorized to use UK bases in Cyprus, one of which was struck by an Iranian-made drone. “It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land. There would have been much more convenient landing there, as opposed to flying many extra hours,” Trump said, apparently referring to Diego Garcia.
After a series of flip-flops, Trump criticized Starmer for agreeing to return the Chagos Islands, where Diego Garcia lies and whose people were expelled by Britain, to Mauritius, and instead to lease the base. “I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have,” said Trump, who was speaking next to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.
Trump voiced fury at Spain, where the left-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has not allowed the United States to attack Iran through bases long used by US forces. “Spain has been terrible,” Trump said, adding that he has asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings with Spain.” He also pointed to Sanchez’s public refusal to join NATO allies in a pledge to boost defense spending to five percent of GDP, a level pushed by Trump, who asserts that the United States bears too much of a burden.
“So we’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.” It remains unclear what power Trump would have to “end” trade with Spain, after the Supreme Court struck down his use of emergency powers to slap arbitrary tariffs on other countries. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares earlier stated that his government would only allow the use of the Naval Base Rota and Moron Air Base for activities consistent with the United Nations Charter.
© 2024 AFP
