US EditionPentagon email floats suspending Spain from NATO, other steps over Iran rift: Reuters
The memo seeks to pressure allies over basing rights and says any move against Spain would be largely symbolic, officials said.
- An internal Pentagon email outlines options to punish NATO allies for failing to support U.S. operations in the Iran war, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing U.S. support for the Falkland Islands, a U.S. official told Reuters.
- Pentagon officials expressed frustration that NATO allies failed to grant access, basing, and overflight rights—known as ABO—for the Iran war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated ABO is 'just the absolute baseline for NATO.'
- One option proposes suspending Spain from prestigious NATO positions, while another considers reassessing diplomatic support for the Falkland Islands, where 255 British troops died in a 1982 war with Argentina.
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez dismissed the internal email as unofficial, saying 'we do not work off of emails, we work from official documents and positions.' President Trump previously called British Prime Minister Keir Starmer 'No Winston Churchill' for refusing to join the war.
- The 76-year-old NATO bloc faces unprecedented concern that the U.S. might not defend European allies, analysts and diplomats say. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth noted that Iran's longer-range missiles cannot hit the United States but can reach Europe.
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A Pentagon document, in the United States, said that that country weighed the idea of suspending Spain from NATO, because the country was not militarily supported in the war in the Middle East. At the beginning of the conflict, the government of Pedro Sánchez had exposed that it would not allow U.S. aircraft to use their military bases for attacks in Iran. Read also... United Kingdom ratifies its sovereignty over the Malvinas after possible brea…
Is the U.S. Trying to Suspend Spain From NATO? Sánchez Addresses Reported Pentagon Email
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a press conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid on Dec. 15, 2025. —Thomas Coex—Getty ImagesSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez dismissed reports that the U.S. is floating the idea of suspending Spain from the NATO alliance.An internal Pentagon email reportedly suggested various ways the Administration could punish NATO allies it believes let the U.S. down by not actively supporting operations in th…
An internal Pentagon email, leaked this week, raises the possibility of suspending Spain from NATO as punishment for Pedro Sánchez's refusal to cede the Rota and Morón air bases and Spanish airspace in the operation against Iran. This is not the first time. In October 2025, Donald Trump himself publicly suggested "kicking them out of NATO" for not increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP. Now Trump is back at it, and the message is unequivocal: …
The Spanish Prime Minister is in Donald Trump's sights for his positions opposed to the war in Iran. Pedro Sanchez believes that "Spain is a reliable partner" within the international politico-military organization and that it has no reason to be bl...
Ex-Trump official bewildered at Pentagon's 'remarkably ignorant statement' on leaked plans
Leaked internal communications from the Pentagon revealed Thursday that the Trump administration has considered methods to punish NATO allies that refused to support the United States in its war against Iran, and the Pentagon’s response left one security expert dumbfounded.First reported on by Reute...
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