US Banned From Using Spanish Bases to Transport Weapons to Israel
By James Badcock
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has criticised the war in Gaza as the extermination of a “defenceless people”
Spain has banned the US from sending weapons to Israel in protest over the war in Gaza.
The government of Pedro Sanchez had already declared an arms embargo on Israel over what Mr Sanchez called the extermination of a “defenceless people” in the Strip.
However, under pressure to go further, he has quietly extended the ban to include the supply of weapons and ammunition to Israel via US bases in the country, according to the El Pais newspaper.
Citing sources familiar with the Spanish-American committee that manages the bases in Seville and Cadiz, El Pais reported that Spain has banned supplies going directly to Israel and those with a stopover as their final destination.
“Rota and Morón are not a sieve,” sources told El Pais, which first reported the ban.
”[They] are Spanish sovereign bases, under the command of a Spanish military officer, and everything that happens there must be authorised by the Spanish authorities.”
Spanish authorities do not want the Rota and Moron (pictured) military bases to be a “sieve” for arms shipments to Israel
The ban is believed to have been imposed as early as March when six F-35 jets delivered to Israel were delivered via the US’s Azores base before flying across the Strait of Gibraltar.
It was the same route that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to fly to New York to speak at the UN General Assembly, and avoid French and Spanish airspace. Mr Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, which the French and Spanish are signatories to.
Though Spain does not inspect US transport planes or ships that stop at Spanish bases, according to the El Pais sources, raising the possibility of the Pentagon smuggling military equipment to Israel, the US would not want to risk damaging relations with Spain and Europe by extension.
On announcing the move to formalise Spain’s arms embargo against Israel earlier this month, Mr Sanchez said Israel was “not defending itself but exterminating a defenceless people” in its occupation of Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu has called Mr Sanchez “anti-Semitic” in response, while the US State Department has also reacted angrily, saying Madrid’s embargo against Israel “emboldens terrorists” and is deeply worrying.
Mr Sanchez’s government was under pressure to take a harder line on Israel
It could also “potentially limit US [military] operations” in Spain, a US State Department spokesperson added.
Though Spain stopped selling weapons to Israel in Oct 2023, it had continued to buy military equipment from Israel up until last week.
According to Spanish government figures, between Oct 2023 and May 2025, Spain imported at least €54 million worth of weapons, ammunition, tanks and armoured vehicles from Israel.
The decree includes a clause that allows for exceptional purchases of goods from Israel related to national defence.
