Madrid, April 7 - Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Tuesday that recent complaints by the United States about NATO allies and public threats to leave the alliance are encouraging European states to pursue other security options.
Albares pointed to a sequence of events that has intensified tensions: after European countries declined to dispatch naval forces to secure the Strait of Hormuz for global shipping following the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is considering withdrawing from the alliance, a move the foreign minister said has pushed NATO into a crisis.
While Albares acknowledged that any decision to leave NATO would rest with President Trump, he stressed the historical solidarity of NATO members with the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks. He said NATO remains "a mutually beneficial alliance for both Europeans and Americans ... But the U.S. administration’s remarks and new positions on Euro-Atlantic security are inviting us Europeans to take a leap in terms of our sovereignty and defence matters," according to comments he made on La Sexta TV.
He added: "We must take our citizens’ security and dissuasion into our own hands." Albares described a set of steps he believes the European Union should advance to reduce reliance on external guarantees. Those steps include moving toward a pan-European army, integrating European defence industries, and building complementary economic frameworks such as a digital single market and a capital markets union to support strategic autonomy.
Spain's government, identified by Albares as leftist, has been vocal in its criticism of the war on Iran, characterising the campaign as illegal and reckless. In response to the strikes, Madrid has closed Spanish airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the operations and has prohibited those planes from using jointly operated military bases in southern Spain.
President Trump has threatened to retaliate against Spain with trade tariffs, the foreign minister noted, adding another layer of diplomatic and economic tension to the security dispute.
Albares framed the current debate as one that forces Europe to weigh sovereignty and defence responsibilities more directly, while underscoring that formal alliance decisions remain in the hands of the United States.