Spain is 'reliable' Nato member, PM Sanchez says after reported US ouster threat

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday stressed his country was a “reliable member” of Nato, after a report the United States was considering possibly trying to expel Spain over its refusal to support operations in the Middle East war.

Reuters news agency cited an anonymous US official telling it that the Pentagon had outlined the expulsion option in an email looking at ways to punish Nato allies that steered clear of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

“Spain is a reliable member within Nato” which is fulfilling all its obligations, Sanchez told reporters in Cyprus, where he was attending an EU summit.

“As a result, I am absolutely not worried,” he said.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against Nato allies for refusing to join the war, saying he viewed it as a betrayal.

Some of them — France, Spain and Italy — did not allow US military aircraft deployed for the war to overfly their territories or to use bases.

Britain initially also refused, but later allowed US flights from its bases for “defensive” missions in the conflict.

Trump also tried, in vain, to get European Nato members to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed with military threats and attacks.

Washington’s expectation that Nato members’ facilities and territories should be available to the US without question has added to strains within the alliance, which Trump has taken to calling a “paper tiger”.

Sanchez added in Cyprus that “we don’t work on the basis of emails, we work off official documents and the position that the United States government has set out in this case”.

He added that his government’s stance was “absolute cooperation with allies, but always within the bounds of international law”.

Nato is to hold its next summit in Turkey on July 7-8.

Pentagon email floats suspending Spain from Nato

A US official said an internal Pentagon email outlined options for the country to punish Nato allies it believes failed to support US operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the US position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands.

The policy options are detailed in a note expressing frustration at some allies’ perceived reluctance or refusal to grant the United States access, basing and overflight rights — known as ABO — for the war on Iran, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the email.

The email stated that ABO is “just the absolute baseline for Nato,” according to the official, who added that the options were circulating at high levels in the Pentagon.

One option in the email envisions suspending “difficult” countries from important or prestigious positions at Nato, the official said.

Asked whether it is possible to suspend a Nato ally, a Nato official said that its “founding treaty does not foresee any provision for suspension of Nato membership”.