U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly condemned the United Kingdom and Spain for taking a passive stance as the Iran situation enters an escalation phase. Frictions with major European allies over U.S. military action against Iran are reemerging at the surface.

On the 3rd local time, after meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House in Washington, D.C., Trump told reporters that he was strongly dissatisfied with the responses of the United Kingdom and Spain. He said, “Some European countries, for example Spain, were terrible,” and raised the issue of defense spending by Spain, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “The Spanish people are excellent, but the leadership is not. We will suspend all trade with Spain,” he said. He added, “The United Kingdom was not satisfactory either,” faulting London for initially declining to allow use of the Diego Garcia air base in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean during the U.S. airstrikes on Iran. Trump then addressed the United Kingdom by saying, “We are not dealing with Winston Churchill.” The comment was interpreted as expressing dissatisfaction with the response of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer by comparing him to former Prime Minister Churchill, who led the Allied forces with the United States during World War II. Coincidentally, the remark was made in the presence of the chancellor of Germany, a country that once fought a war with Britain.

The United States and the United Kingdom have long maintained a close alliance often called the ‘special relationship’. In particular, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has, at least early on, maintained a relatively smooth relationship with President Trump despite stark political differences. Trump even referred to Starmer as “a winner,” and the United Kingdom concluded a trade agreement with the United States ahead of other countries.

However, in recent days the ambitions of Trump regarding Greenland, a territory of Denmark, have spilled over into the Chagos issue, and tensions have been accentuated by the United Kingdom decision not to allow, at the initial stage, U.S. use of a British military base when Washington sought to attack Iran.

The Times of London reported that the initial refusal by the United Kingdom created new cracks in the so-called ‘special relationship’. According to diplomatic sources, Trump, whose mother is from Scotland and who harbors affection for the British royal family, was quite surprised that the United Kingdom did not cooperate at first. In Washington, some assess that the episode has left the impression that the UK leadership is indecisive.

At present, the United Kingdom is allowing the United States to use certain British bases only for a ‘defensive strike’ targeting missile depots and launchers in Tehran, while drawing the line at support for a full-scale military operation.

Among European Union leaders, the figure most openly standing up to President Trump is Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Sanchez has strongly criticized the U.S. strikes on Iran as “neither justified, nor safe, nor legal.” The Spanish government has completely prohibited the use of bases on its soil for U.S. military operations against Iran.

Politico Europe analyzed that the way Sanchez is confronting Trump head on recalls former French President Jacques Chirac, who in 2003 opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq by emphasizing international law and multilateralism.

Domestic political circumstances are also seen as a factor behind the hard line by Sanchez. With his political standing weakened by a corruption scandal and defeats in local elections, foreign policy is an arena where he can exercise relatively more initiative. This is in line with Spanish public opinion. A recent poll indicates that about 75% of Spaniards view President Trump very negatively, and eight in ten think he is a threat to world peace.

With a general election that must be held by next July, there is also speculation that he aims to bolster his position by highlighting confrontation with President Trump. Spanish political scientist Pablo Simon told Politico that “Prime Minister Sanchez is choosing to fight windmills like Don Quixote” and that he “seeks to establish himself as a symbolic leader of multilateralism and Europeanism.”