Spanish official: US NATO threats push EU to explore defence alternatives

Recent complaints by the United States about NATO allies, coupled with threats to leave the alliance, are prompting European countries to explore alternative security arrangements, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on April 7.

Albares emphasised that the decision ultimately rests with Trump but highlighted the historic solidarity of NATO allies with Washington after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

After European nations declined to send their navies to secure the Strait of Hormuz following the outbreak of a U.S.-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated he may consider withdrawing from NATO, pushing the alliance into a potential crisis.

"NATO is 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," Albares told La Sexta TV channel.

"We must take our citizens' security and dissuasion into our own hands," he added.

He suggested that the European Union should move toward establishing a pan-European army, integrating its defence industries, and also advancing a digital single market and a capital markets union.

Spain's leftist government has become one of the most vocal critics of the war on Iran, which it calls illegal and reckless. It has closed Spanish airspace to U.S. planes involved in the strikes and banned their use of jointly operated military bases in southern Spain. Trump has vowed to retaliate against Spain using trade tariffs.

By Sabina Mammadli