• Threatens to cut off all trade with Madrid after Sanchez terms attack on Iran breach of int’l law
• Calls UK ‘a reluctant partner’
• Macron sends aircraft carrier to Mediterranean

WASHI­NGTON: Amid the ongoing war on Iran, US President Donald Trump criticised Spain and UK on Tuesday after the left-wing government of Pedro Sanchez condemned the US-Israeli attack as ‘a breach of international law’, and British PM Keir Starmer said he did not believe in “regime change from the skies”.

“Spain has been terrible,” Trump told reporters as he met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He threatened to cut off trade with Spain for refusing to let US planes use its bases to attack Iran and objected to raising defence funding as part of Nato.

“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”

Also, Trump criticised Starmer for a second time this week, saying it was “sad to see” the so-called special relationship deteriorate, after Britain initially held off providing support for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Starmer had said that any military action must have a “viable, thought-through plan”.

However, he later allowed the US to use the UK bases to launch what he called ‘limited and defensive’ strikes.

A British base in Cyprus was hit by a drone that Cypriot officials said was likely launched from Lebanon.

On Tuesday, however, Starmer said the UK was dispatching “helicopters with counter drone capabilities” and the warship HMS Dragon to Cyprus. “The UK is fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel based there,” he said.

Trump said he did not need Britain’s support to strike Iran but said the delay had been disappointing. “It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was,” Trump told the Sun newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

He said he was ‘upset’ with Starmer. “I’m not happy with the UK,” Trump said as he met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House. “It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land,” Trump said. “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”

He told the Telegraph that Starmer had appeared to be “worried about the legality” of the strikes, when he weighed whether to allow Britain’s strategically important air base, Diego Garcia, to be used.

Reluctant partner

Trump told the Sun that he never thought he would see Britain become a reluctant partner, and instead heaped praise on France and Germany.

“This was the most solid relationship of all,” he said. “And now we have very strong relationships with other countries in Europe.” “France has been great. They’ve all been great. The UK has been much different from others.”

Starmer has defended his response, telling parliament he had to judge what was in Britain’s national interest. “That is what I have done, and I stand by it,” he said. Polling published by YouGov on Tuesday showed that majority of people in Britain were opposed to the US strikes on Iran.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron also ordered an aircraft carrier group to the Mediterranean in response to the widening Middle East conflict and said the US-Israel strikes on Iran were outside international law.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2026