‘They Were Not There for Us’
![Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez waves his right hand while holding his suit jacket closed with his left.]()
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez gestures upon his arrival ahead of an informal meeting of the European Council in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, on April 23.Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images
The United States is considering punishing NATO allies that have failed to support U.S. military operations in the Iran war, a U.S. official told Reuters on Friday. These penalties could include the potential suspension of Spain’s NATO membership as well as Washington reviewing its position on Britain’s claim to the disputed Falkland Islands.
According to the unnamed official’s description of an internal Defense Department email prepared by the Pentagon’s chief policy advisor, Elbridge Colby, these punishments would be in response to European nations’ reluctance or refusal to allow U.S. forces to use their bases to launch attacks on Iran. Access, basing, and overflight rights are “just the absolute baseline for NATO,” Colby reportedly wrote, echoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated criticism that NATO is a “paper tiger” alliance for its refusal to help U.S. forces reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Foreign Policy has not independently confirmed the email.
Madrid and London have taken the brunt of the White House’s ire in recent weeks. Spain (along with Italy and France) have refused to let U.S. troops use their bases or airspace to strike Iran; the U.S. military has access to two key Spanish bases, Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base. In response, Trump threatened in March to “cut off all dealings” with Madrid, telling reporters, “We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
Similarly, London initially refused to allow U.S. aircraft to attack Iran from two British bases. Although British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ultimately relented to allow access for defensive missions, the country’s hesitancy did not go unnoticed by Trump; last week, the U.S. president threatened to unravel parts of the U.S.-U.K. trade deal.
“As President Trump has said, despite everything that the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said on Friday in response to Reuters’s request for comment on the email. “The War Department will ensure that the President has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part. We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect,” Wilson added, using the Trump administration’s preferred name for the Defense Department.
Yet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez does not appear concerned with the Trump administration’s reported threats. “We do not work off emails,” Sánchez said of the internal Pentagon memo. “We work off official documents and government positions, in this case of the United States.” NATO’s founding treaty does not include any mechanism to suspend or remove one of its members, though it does allow voluntary withdrawal—something that Trump has threatened to do.
The response to the Pentagon’s Falkland Islands threat, however, appears to be more worrisome. The United Kingdom and Argentina have long disputed which country should govern the South Atlantic territory. In 1982, Britain defeated Argentina in a 10-week undeclared war over the land, and the United States has recognized de facto British control over the Falklands since.
“Sovereignty rests with the U.K., and the islands’ right to self-determination is paramount,” a spokesperson for Starmer said on Friday. “It’s been our consistent position and will remain the case.”
However, far-right Argentine President Javier Milei, a close ally of Trump, expressed optimism over the Pentagon’s proposed reconsideration. “We are doing everything humanly possible so that the Argentine Malvinas, the islands, the entire territory return to the hands of Argentina,” Milei said during a radio interview on Friday.