According to a recent poll carried out by the state-run Center for Sociological Research, three-quarters of all Spaniards admitted to having a “very bad” opinion of Trump, and 8 out of 10 considered him as posing a threat to world peace.
Sánchez may be hoping to seize on a popularity “Trump-bump” similar to the one benefiting another center-left EU leader, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen. Her Social Democrats suffered a crushing defeat in municipal elections last year, but since January the prime minister’s party has soared in the polls as a result of her vehement opposition to Trump’s threats to annex Greenland.
In France, the global tensions are also giving the French president a new lease on political life as he faces the end of his mandate as a lame-duck president. He has nothing to lose from crossing swords with Trump and polls show his approval ratings have gone up amid some of this year’s international showdowns on trade and security.
Resisting the U.S. superpower is an easy move for Macron, who can lean into the Gaullist tradition of seeking independence from Washington. France’s opposition to the Iran strikes will also rekindle memories of Paris’ opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who (as foreign minister) delivered France’s landmark address rejecting Washington’s march to war in Iraq, now warns, in a post on X, that the war in Iran could end the same way, with years of civil war following the death of a dictator.
For Macron, who has warned that the war in Iran has no clear end, the instability gives him yet another opportunity to push for greater European self-reliance and independence from the U.S. On Tuesday, he pitched a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway and vital energy nexus leading into the Persian Gulf — with European partners, but not with the U.S.
During a speech Wednesday, Sánchez said Madrid’s stance against the war in Iran reflected “the founding principles of the European Union.”
Giorgio Leali contributed to this report.