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WASHINGTON — Spain moved to reopen its embassy in Tehran on Thursday after criticisms from President Trump of NATO nations that have opposed his war against Iran.
Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said that he’d instructed his country’s ambassador to Iran to return to the embassy post “to join in this effort for peace from every possible quarter, including from the Iranian capital itself,” Reuters reported.
The move comes as the US and Iran reached a two-week cease-fire in the conflict that has been tested by subsequent Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
“Yesterday we saw how Israel, flouting the ceasefire and in violation of international law, dropped hundreds of bombs on Lebanon,” Albares also said Thursday.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Wednesday that Israel had agreed “to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful” — but fresh strikes in Beirut on Thursday took out Ali Youssef Kharshi, the secretary and nephew of Hezbollah honcho Naim Qassem.
Spain has been a staunch opponent of the US-Israeli military actions against Iran — and declined to let American forces use any of its bases in the Middle East.
France and the UK have also discouraged the US from conducting strikes on Iran at any of their regional bases.
Trump has criticized the NATO allies for not helping to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a critical chokepoint in the Persian Gulf for commercial shipping that Iran shut down at the start of the war — and is rumored to be considering a plan to punish the nations for declining to assist the US in the war with Iran.
The plan would pull US troops out of NATO countries that hampered or failed to help in Operation Epic Fury, Trump administration officials told the Wall Street Journal.
Word of the proposal came as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrived in Washington, DC, to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the US reconsidering its membership in NATO was “something the president has discussed, and I think it’s something that the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with the secretary-general.”
It’s “quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks, when it’s the American people who have been funding their defense,” Leavitt added.
Spain was also a source of tension in the meeting between Trump and Rutte, per a source familiar.
The president posted on his Truth Social following the White House meeting with Rutte on Wednesday: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!”
Earlier this year, Trump had threatened to seize Greenland — but later backed down after discussions with Rutte reassured him that a framework could be imposed to expand the US military presence there.
Thursday morning, he added in another post: “None of these people, including our own, very disappointing, NATO, understood anything unless they have pressure placed upon them!!!”
A NATO spokesperson said the president and secretary general on Wednesday “had a frank discussion on a range of issues related to our shared security, including in the context of Iran.”
“The Secretary General underscored the importance of Allies continuing to step up to deliver a stronger, fairer Alliance,” the rep noted.
Rutte is delivering an address later Thursday at the Reagan Institute’s Center for Peace Through Strength in DC on the NATO alliance.
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