Leavitt: Spain agrees to cooperate with US on Iran

The White House suggested Wednesday that Spain has agreed to cooperate with the US military’s mission against Iran after President Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed out at the country and threatened a trade embargo. But Spain is denying that account, CNN reports.

“With respect to Spain, I think they heard the president’s message yesterday loud and clear, and it’s my understanding, over the past several hours, they’ve agreed to cooperate with the US military,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said when pressed on how a potential embargo would comport with Spain’s membership in the European Union.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares in a local radio interview denied Leavitt’s account. “Our position has not changed,” Albares said.

CNN has reached out to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government.

Sánchez has emerged as Europe’s most vocal critic of Trump, refusing to involve Spain in the war at all, even after Trump’s trade threats.

“We’re not going to be complicit in something that’s bad for the world, nor contrary to our values and interests simply to avoid reprisals from someone,” Sánchez said in a televised address on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Leavitt said Wednesday that the US military “is coordinating with their counterparts in Spain” and that Trump “expects all Europe, all of our European allies, of course, to cooperate,” saying that the Iranian regime also posed a threat to European countries.