Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned on Wednesday that the Iran war represents a “far worse” scenario than the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“This is not the same scenario as the illegal war in Iraq. We are facing something far worse. Much worse. With a potential impact that is far broader and far deeper,” he told parliament.
“This time, it’s an absurd and illegal war. A cruel one that sets us back from achieving our economic, social and environmental goals.”
The socialist prime minister has refused Washington’s requests to use Madrid’s military bases to launch strikes against Iran, despite US President Donald Trump’s threat to sever trade with Spain as a result.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump complained to Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier in March.
“So we’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
“Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people, but they don’t have great leadership,” he said.
Sánchez said the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 had failed to achieve its goals and instead forced ordinary people to face adversity, saying it led to a sharp increase in fuel and grocery prices, a migration crisis and jihadist attacks in Europe.
He warned that the Iran war could have a similar economic impact on millions.
“Every bomb that falls in the Middle East eventually hits, as we are already seeing, the wallets of our families,” Sánchez said.
The government’s position is widely shared by people across Spain, with 68% saying they were opposed to the war in a poll conducted by 40db.
Economic impact
Last week, his government approved a sweeping package worth €5 billion to cushion the economic impact of the war, including reductions in fuel taxes.
“It is not fair that some set the world on fire while others bear the ashes. It is not right that Spaniards and other Europeans should pay out of their own pockets for this illegal war,” Sánchez said.
His reference to Iraq may strike a chord with some Spanish voters.
Support for that war by the conservative Popular Party (PP) in power at the time, which sent troops to Iraq, was widely unpopular and sparked mass protests.
Some analysts say it paved the way for the socialist PSOE party’s surprise win in March 2004, days after deadly jihadist bombings hit commuter trains connecting Madrid and nearby Alcalá de Henares in and around the Atocha train station in the Spanish capital.
A branch of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks and called for the withdrawal of Spanish forces from Iraq.
A majority of Spaniards, 53.2%, back Sánchez’s decision not to allow the US to use the Rota naval base and the Morón air base for strikes against Iran, a poll published earlier this month in the daily newspaper El País showed.
Additional sources • AFP