The US president lashed out at Spain during the NATO summit, saying the country is a ‘wasted cause.’
Donald Trump didn’t mince his words about its NATO ally during the high-level summit in Ankara.
Spain has faced the president’s wrath because it refuses to pledge increased spending for the military alliance, which the US is the biggest contributor to.
Trump said: ‘Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore.
‘Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain.’
He continued to disparage the country led by left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez: ‘Don’t even talk to them. They’re hopeless, bad people.
‘They make so much money with us, and we’re going to see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them.’
Sánchez’s office reacted to Trump’s remarks, saying it has no plans to change its relationship with the US.
Spain sparked Trump’s anger at the start of the US-Iran war when the country closed its airspace to flights involved in the military operation in March.
Sánchez labelled the conflict as an ‘illegal war,’ saying US aircraft were banned from flying through or refuelling in its airspace.
Trump lashed out in a similar response, saying Spain has been ‘terrible’ before threatening to cut trade.
Spain plans to spend 2.1% of its GDP on NATO targets, significantly less than other nations’ target of 5% of GDP by 2035.
Meanwhile, attempts to make peace in Iran appear to have collapsed after fighting in the Gulf region resumed.
US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain came under fire from Iran, which said it carried out the attacks in retaliation for ceasefire violation.
Speaking to media today, Trump described the Iranian leaders as ‘scum’ and ‘sick people’ as he said the ceasefire is ‘over.’
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Tehran over three days for the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose death in the Israeli-US airstrikes on February 28 started the Iran war.
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