Trump faces global snub amid conflict with Iran: Spain says no to bases, allies reject Hormuz showdown

Since the start of the Middle East conflict, when the United States and Israel jointly struck multiple locations in Iran on February 28, President Donald Trump has faced multiple snubs in his efforts to call for joint efforts to defeat Tehran.

From Spain rejecting Donald Trump's request to use jointly operated military bases on its territory to attack Iran to multiple Washington allies rejecting his call to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz – almost everyone he has reached out to has denied joining the war on Iran one way or another.

It has eventually come to a point where Donald Trump has resorted to threatening them.

Madrid also sought to attack the US for its “unjustified and dangerous military intervention” in Iran.

Taking a defiant tone, Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares had said, “I want to be very clear and very plain. The bases are not being used – nor will they be used – for anything that is not in the agreement [with the US], nor for anything that isn’t covered by the UN charter.”

“We don't want anything to do with Spain. I could tomorrow - or today, even better - stop everything having to do with Spain, all business having to do with Spain,” he said.

The White House later claimed that Spain had changed its stance and Madrid rejected it too.

Karoline Leavitt said, “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 U.S. military.”

Swifty came Spain's response.

“The Spanish government’s position on the war in the Middle East ... and the use of our bases has not changed at all,” the foreign minister said.

The US President said he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory. It would be nice to have other countries police that with us, and we’ll help. We’ll work with them,” he said.

The United Kingdom, the closest US military ally in Europe, was one of the first ones to rebuff Trump. “We will not be drawn into the wider war,” Keir Starmer said.

Germany, Spain and Italy were quick to snub the US President as they ruled out participating in any mission in the Gulf, at least for now.

Downplaying Trump's threats, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said, “This is not our war, we have not started it.”

Spain said no, Italy said sending warships to a war zone would be interpreted as joining the conflict.

"Italy is not at war with anyone and sending military ships in a war zone would mean entering the war," Deputy PM Salvini said.

Meanwhile, France has said that it is ready to join Hormuz ship escorts once situation becomes ‘calmer’.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “Nato is an alliance to defend the alliance area. The United States did not consult us before this war, and so we believe this is not a matter for Nato or the German government.”

Greece and Luxembourg have denied too.

Australia – not a NATO country – too has rejected support calls.

“We strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm,” he added.

He also threatened NATO, saying that “if there’s no response or if it’s a negative response I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.” He did not delve into what the consequences would be.