The Middle East is once again in the spotlight after the joint attack by the United States and Israel on Iran. Trump and Netanyahu have described it as a “preemptive strike” to “eliminate” the ayatollah regime, one of the main objectives of the North American administration that culminates decades of tense relations between the two countries.
The attack has also led to the entry into the scene of other actors such as Lebanon. The Shiite armed group Hezbollah, with influence in the country, has launched more attacks against northern Israel, to which the Jewish state has responded with another offensive, the first action after the ceasefire reached in 2024.
The movements of all these actors are under scrutiny, especially the US action under Donald Trump who explained that it was a “massive” military operation and asked the Iranian people to rise up to take control of their country.
The United States bases in Spain
In a context of escalating war in the area and with the enormous distance that separates the countries, the strategic factor becomes important and, with it, the location of the military bases that the US has in the closest regions.
Thus, the United States has at least 128 bases in 49 countries, among which is Spain. These are commitments with NATO so that the US can develop its actions and our country has a key location such as access to the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Rota (Cádiz) and Morón de la Frontera (Seville) are the locations of the two bases that the US has on Spanish soil. The first, as a naval base, is used for naval operations and logistical support for NATO, and has five destroyers of the North American Navy.
On the other hand, the Morón de la Frontera air base offers aerial actions, as well as refueling and surveillance tasks, although it is widely used as a transit point for material from missions around the world.
Albares denies that the US uses the Rota base in the war against Iran
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has “categorically” denied that the joint military bases of Rota and Morón de la Frontera are used by the United States for the operation in Iran: “We are not going to lend our bases for anything that is not in the Treaty or fits into the UN Charter.”
Albares has come forward to some information that claims that there are two American warships at the Rota base, something that has been denied by the minister, who explained in an interview on Telecinco that there may be warships in Rota, “which does not mean that the base is suitable for this operation.”
