The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, today criticized Spain for prohibiting the use of airspace, having questioned the role of NATO if the United States cannot serve itself “when necessary”.
“We have countries like Spain, a member of NATO that we are committed to protecting and that denies us the use of its airspace and boasts about it, that denies us the use of its bases, said Rubio in an interview with Al Jazeera. “And there are other countries that have also done so, and so we ask ourselves: what does the United States gain?”, he argued.
Rubio explained that one of the reasons he himself supported NATO is because the bases “give influence, they give flexibility and they give operational capability around the world” to the US.
“But if NATO is just for us to defend Europe if it is attacked, while they deny us access to their bases when we need them… it’s not a very good deal,” he said.
Rubio, who is also US President Donald Trump‘s national security adviser, warned that “it’s hard to keep a commitment and say it’s good for the United States.” “It has been very frustrating”, he highlighted.
The United States, he recalled, has tens of thousands of military personnel in Europe, billions of dollars worth of weapons throughout Europe. “All this to defend Europe, not to defend the United States (…) we will have to review all of this” when the offensive against Iran ends, he indicated.
Rubio stressed that “if tomorrow we decided to withdraw our troops from Europe, it would be the end of NATO.”
Spain closed its airspace to all flights involved in the attacks on Iran, in addition to refusing the use of two military bases by the United States (USA), the Spanish Government and armed forces said.
Lusa
