WASHINGTON \u2014 Spain moved to reopen its embassy in Tehran on Thursday after criticisms from President Trump of NATO nations that have opposed his war against Iran.<\/p>\n
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said he\u2019d instructed his country\u2019s ambassador to Iran to return to the embassy post \u201cto join in this effort for peace from every possible quarter, including from the Iranian capital itself,\u201d Reuters reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The move comes as the US and Iran reached a two-week cease-fire<\/a> in the conflict that has been tested by subsequent Israeli strikes on Lebanon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said he\u2019d instructed his country\u2019s ambassador to Iran to return to the embassy post in Tehran. AP<\/p>\n \u201cYesterday we \u200bsaw how Israel, flouting the cease-fire \u200band in violation of international law, dropped hundreds of \u200cbombs \u2060on Lebanon,\u201d Albares also said Thursday.<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance told reporters Wednesday that Israel had agreed \u201cto check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful\u201d \u2014 but fresh strikes in Beirut on Thursday took out Ali Youssef Kharshi<\/a>, the secretary and nephew of Hezbollah honcho Naim Qassem.<\/p>\n Spain has been a staunch opponent of the US-Israeli military actions against Iran \u2014 and declined to let American forces use any of its bases in the Middle East.<\/p>\n France and the UK have also discouraged the US from conducting strikes on Iran at any of their regional bases.<\/p>\n Trump has criticized the NATO allies for not helping to reopen the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a critical chokepoint in the Persian Gulf for commercial shipping that Iran shut down at the start of the war \u2014 and is rumored to be considering a plan to punish\u00a0the nations<\/a> for declining to assist\u00a0the US in the war with Iran.<\/p>\n The plan would pull US troops out of NATO countries that hampered or failed to help in Operation Epic Fury<\/a>, Trump administration officials told the Wall Street Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n France and the UK have also discouraged the US from conducting strikes on Iran at any of their regional bases. via REUTERS<\/p>\n Word of the proposal came as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte arrived in Washington, DC, to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump.<\/p>\n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US reconsidering its membership in NATO was \u201csomething the president has discussed, and I think it\u2019s something that the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with the secretary-general.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201cquite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks, when it\u2019s the American people who have been funding their defense,\u201d Leavitt added.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Trump had threatened to seize Greenland. Ritzau Scanpix\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n Spain was also a source of tension in the meeting between Trump and Rutte, per a source familiar.<\/p>\n