Spain permanently withdrew its ambassador to Israel on Tuesday over its opposition to US-Israeli attacks on Iran, further inflaming an already tense diplomatic rift between the two countries.
The Spanish government formally terminated the ambassador’s position in its official gazette and said the embassy in Tel Aviv will now be headed by a charge d’affaires indefinitely.
Madrid had recalled its ambassador last September after Israel condemned Spain’s decision to block planes and ships carrying weapons to Israel from using Spanish ports or airspace. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called the move anti-Semitic at the time.
When a reporter asked on Wednesday whether Spain was generally cooperating with the US, President Donald Trump replied: “No, they are not. I don’t think they are cooperating at all.”
WORLD LEADERS DIFFER ON MILITARY ACTION AS US-ISRAEL ATTACK IRAN IN COORDINATED OPERATION
People walk past damaged buildings after an attack on a police station, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 4, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)
“Spain, I think they have been very bad,” the president said. ‘Very bad. Not good at all. Maybe we’ll cut off trade with Spain.’
“I don’t know what Spain is doing,” Trump continued. “They have been very bad to NATO. They are protected, they don’t want to pay their fair share. And that has been the case for years.”
Trump added that Spain’s people are “fantastic” while its leadership is “not that good.”
TRUMP PRESSES NATO PARTNERS FOR SUPPORT, WHILE HEGSETH RECALLS HESITATION
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Wednesday criticized Spain’s decision to permanently recall its ambassador to Israel as “hard for me to absorb.”
“Spain is a member of NATO, and the United States and Israel are conducting joint operations against the Iranian regime that openly calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, attacks against the West and purges Islam in its own image,” Graham wrote on X.
Spain recalled its ambassador to Israel, the latest flare-up in the two countries’ rocky diplomatic relationship in recent years. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo)
“The religious Nazi regime in Iran is the problem, not the Jewish state,” the senator continued. “I hope that Spain’s actions will not encourage the tyrannical, fanatical regime in Iran – which abuses its own people – to persist.”
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Relations between Spain and Israel have deteriorated sharply since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas terror attacks on October 7, 2023.
Israel also reduced its diplomatic presence in Spain last May after Spain recognized a Palestinian state and placed its own embassy in Madrid under a charge d’affaires.
