An internal Pentagon email outlines the options the United States has to sanction those NATO allies that it believes did not support US operations in the war against Iran. These options include suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the US position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands, a US official told Reuters.
The policy options are detailed in a note that expresses frustration with the apparent reluctance or refusal of some allies to grant the United States access, bases and overflight rights (ABO) for the war against Iran, said the official, who spoke and explained the email on condition of anonymity.
The email indicated that the ABO is “just the absolute starting point for NATO,” according to the official, who added that options were circulating at senior levels in the Pentagon. One of the options posed by the email was the suspension of countries considered “difficult” from important or prestigious positions in NATO, according to the official.
Neither US withdrawal from NATO nor closure of bases in Europe
US President Donald Trump has harshly criticized NATO allies for not sending their troops to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which was closed to global maritime traffic after the start of the war on February 28. He has also declared that he is considering withdrawing from the Atlantic alliance: “Wouldn’t you do the same thing if you were in my place?” Trump asked Reuters in an interview on April 1, in response to a question about whether the United States’ withdrawal from NATO was a possibility.
But the email does not suggest that the United States do so, the official said, nor does it propose closing bases in Europe. The official also declined to say whether the options included a drawdown of some U.S. forces in Europe.
Asked about the email, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson responded: “As President Trump has said, despite everything the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us. The War Department will ensure that the president has credible options to ensure that our allies stop being a paper tiger and do their part. We have no further comment on internal deliberations on the matter,” Wilson said.
The Trump Administration perceives a “sense of entitlement” in Europe
The US-Israel-Iran war has raised serious questions about the future of the 76-year-old bloc and sparked unprecedented concern that “the United States will not come to the aid of its European allies if they are attacked,” according to analysts and diplomats.
Britain, France and other countries say joining the US naval blockade would be tantamount to entering the war, but that they would be willing to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open once a lasting ceasefire was achieved “or the conflict ended.”
However, Trump administration officials have stressed that NATO cannot be a one-way street. They have expressed frustration with Spain, where Pedro Sánchez’s socialist government declared it would not allow its bases or airspace to be used to attack Iran. The United States has two important military bases in Spain: the Rota Naval Base and the Morón Air Base.
The policy options outlined in the email are intended to send a strong signal to NATO allies with the goal of “decreasing the feeling of superiority on the part of Europeans,” the official said, summarizing the email.
The suspension of Spain would have a “significant symbolic impact”
The option to suspend Spain from the alliance would have a limited effect on US military operations, but a “significant symbolic impact,” the email argues.
The official did not reveal how the United States might proceed to suspend Spain from the alliance, and Reuters could not determine whether there was any mechanism in NATO to “do so.”
Diplomatic support for the Malvinas Islands
The memorandum also includes the option of considering reassessing US diplomatic support for former European “imperial possessions”, such as the Falkland Islands, near Argentina.
The State Department website indicates that the islands are administered by the United Kingdom, but remain claimed by Argentina, whose libertarian president, Javier Milei, is a Trump ally. Britain and Argentina fought a brief war in 1982 over the islands, after Argentina tried unsuccessfully to “take them over.” Some 650 Argentine and 255 British soldiers died before Argentina surrendered.
Trump vs. Starmer
Trump has repeatedly insulted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling him a “coward” for his refusal to join the US war against Iran, claiming he was “no Winston Churchill” and describing British aircraft carriers as “toys”. Britain initially did not agree to the United States’ request to allow its aircraft to attack Iran from two British bases, but later agreed to authorize defensive missions intended to protect residents of the region, including British citizens, amid Iranian retaliation.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the war with Iran has exposed a lot, noting that Iranian long-range missiles cannot reach the United States, but they can reach Europe. “We encounter questions, obstacles or doubts… You cannot have a solid alliance if there are countries that are not willing to support you when you need them,” he declared.
Sánchez does not go into evaluating the email and reiterates his “absolute collaboration” with NATO
In statements to journalists upon his arrival at the second day of the informal summit of the European Union that brings together the leaders of the Twenty-seven for two days in Cyprus, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, did not evaluate the information from Reuters about this internal Pentagon email. The leader of the Spanish Executive has said that they do not work “on emails”, but on “official documents and official positions” of the United States Government of Donald Trump. At the same time, he has reiterated that Spain’s position is “clear”: “Absolute collaboration with the allies, but always within the framework of international legality.”
