“The President will not allow the world’s number one state sponsor of terror to have a nuclear weapon with which to threaten the United States and the world,” Kelly continued.
Spain, run by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has found itself an EU outlier when it comes to the Middle East. Sánchez’s government has repeatedly pushed for the EU to issue stronger criticism of Israel, and has hit out at the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Albares argued that Spain’s positions have now become mainstream within the bloc.
“It’s true to say we have been the first to take that approach. On Iran, and on everything that is going on in the Middle East,” he said. “We seem to stand alone, only at first. A few days later, some others start to say the same things. A month later, everyone in Europe says exactly what we say.
“Why? Because it’s what makes sense to the interest of our citizens, European citizens, not only Spanish citizens, and to our values, European values.”
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares speaks to the media prior to a meeting in Brussels on March 16, 2026. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
He said the EU was at a turning point, arguing it must become more independent as global instability deepens and transatlantic foreign policy grows less predictable.