U.S. relations with NATO ally Spain appear to have hit a modern low. On the very first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the countries’ actions as violations of international law and denied Washington the use of airfields in Spain for the purposes of conducting attacks. Spain eventually closed its entire airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the conflict.

“The war with Iran is illegal, and Spain has condemned it from the outset,” Sánchez said last month. The United States and Iran reached a tenuous two-week cease-fire on April 7.

U.S. policymakers’ reactions to Spain’s position were swift and predictable. In early March, President Donald Trump threatened to “cut off” all trade with Spain, while Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime proponent of U.S. intervention against Iran, called for removing U.S. military bases from Spain entirely. So far, Washington has not followed through on either threat, though the U.S. right clearly still has an appetite for trying to “punish” Spain, as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal recently proposed.

In Europe, Spain’s opposition to Trump’s war stands in stark contrast to many other U.S. allies, which have adopted more cautious positions. Britain, whose air bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia came under attack, has allowed the United States to conduct what it terms “defensive” operations from British bases. France also moved to redeploy naval forces from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Germany, meanwhile, initially provided robust rhetorical support for the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz arguing that international law did not apply to Iran. Only more recently did Berlin shift its stance, as Defense Minister Boris Pistorius ruled out German participation in military efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In contrast to such conflicted displays, Spain’s bold and consistent stance is much more in line with international law. Not only that—by opposing the war with Iran, Madrid is also doing a better job looking out for U.S. interests than the U.S. government.

The American people clearly reject yet another war in the Middle East. More than 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the conflict, according to recent Pew polling. The United States’ strategic posture and diplomatic standing have been tarnished as Washington struggles to defend its Arab Gulf partners while diverting military resources meant to defend East Asian allies. At least 13 U.S. service members have been killed so far. Death tolls in the Middle East are much higher: At least 2,076 people have been killed in Iran, alongside 1,497 in Lebanon and 26 in Israel. Other countries in the region have also suffered casualties.

The recently announced cease-fire with Iran offers little grounds for optimism. Iran’s own experience weathering U.S. strikes over the past year suggests that conflict will soon resume, absent significant diplomatic breakthroughs.

All the pain, death, and economic turmoil of the past few weeks could have been avoided had the United States listened to Spain. Washington has not lately paid any attention to Spain’s warnings on geopolitical issues ranging from Gaza to Venezuela—or acknowledged any kind of special relationship with Madrid, despite centuries of shared culture, language, and heritage.

Spain’s long history with the United States goes back to before the latter country’s founding. The United States has more shared cultural and historical roots with Spain and its former Latin American empire than any other nation, save Britain. From San Antonio, Texas, to San Francisco, California, many modern American cities were first founded by the Spanish. When the United States declared its independence in 1776, Spain fought alongside the American rebels and played at least as large a role in defeating Britain as France did. Under the command of the Spanish governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez—the namesake of Galveston, Texas—Spanish troops from Havana and New Orleans captured Mobile and Pensacola from the British, expelling Britain from the Gulf of Mexico’s shores and reclaiming Florida for Spain.

Spain has largely not gotten the credit that it deserves in U.S. cultural memory, which remembers the French contribution to U.S. independence far better. Tensions between the United States and Spain throughout the 19th century no doubt contributed to this historical amnesia. The United States played a critical role in expelling Spain from the Western Hemisphere in the 19th century, recognizing Latin American independence movements and moving directly to seize Florida from Spain. The Spanish Empire’s fate was sealed by the United States’ decisive victory in the 1898 Spanish-American War, ending centuries of Spanish control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Yet, despite these moments of competition and conflict, the United States today is more Hispanic than ever. More native Spanish speakers call the United States home than Spain itself. Recently, some Spanish academics have even argued for extending Spanish citizenship to Puerto Ricans who can trace their descent from those who lived on the island as Spanish citizens prior to 1898, similar to existing Spanish laws allowing descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain as far back as 1492 to obtain Spanish citizenship today.

The civilizational foundations for today’s Spanish-American alliance are obvious. But for all their shared history and culture, the United States has not been a good ally to Spain lately. Informing much of Sánchez’s opposition to the Iran war is Spain’s own miserable experience in the Iraq War, when Spain, then under the conservative government of Prime Minister José María Aznar, joined the U.S.-led coalition. From 2003 to 2004, 1,300 Spanish troops deployed to Iraq, leading a Spanish-speaking force that also included forces from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Although just 11 Spanish soldiers were killed in Iraq, Spain suffered a far greater death toll following the 2004 Madrid train bombings by Islamist terrorists. The Spanish left interpreted the attacks, which killed 193 people, as blowback for joining in the Iraq invasion, while many on the right initially insisted that the bombings were the work of Basque separatists, a more familiar enemy for Spanish nationalists.

Days after the Madrid bombing, the Socialist Workers’ Party ousted Aznar in Spain’s 2004 elections and quickly withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq, triggering additional withdrawals by Spanish-speaking countries. Only El Salvador remained in Iraq following Spain’s withdrawal, demonstrating the significant influence that Spain retains over Latin America today. (Despite Trump’s pomp surrounding the so-called Donroe Doctrine, Latin America today has also declined to join his Middle Eastern misadventures.) For Spain, the lesson of the past is clear: Having already been dragged into Iraq, Spain is determined to avoid being dragged into Iran.

More recently, during Trump’s first term, the United States also left Spain diplomatically isolated over the issue of Western Sahara, imposing a humiliating policy reversal on the Sánchez government, which was forced to recognize Morocco’s rule over the disputed territory. Madrid had long recognized the right of the Saharawi people of the former Spanish colony of the Western Sahara to self-determination. In line with most of the international community, Spain considered Morocco’s decades-long presence there to be an illegal occupation. The United States had previously held the same nominal position, but in 2020 it switched in exchange for Morocco agreeing to recognize Israel and join the Abraham Accords.

With Washington in its corner, the Moroccan government weaponized migration to pressure Spain. Videos showed Moroccan authorities opening gates to allow migrants and asylum-seekers to rush the border fences guarding Spain’s tiny enclaves on the North African coast. Abandoned by the United States, Spain capitulated and recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.

In contrast to costly allies such as Israel that have accompanied the United States into this quagmire, Spain stands out as the principled friend the United States needs to exit it. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has praised Spain’s “responsible conduct”; it is not inconceivable that Madrid could play a role in negotiating a longer-term solution to the conflict. On Thursday, Spain announced it would reopen its embassy in Tehran, providing a platform for a potential U.S.-Iran rapprochement.

This cease-fire, should it hold, came not a moment too soon. The United States, spread thin by its numerous global defense commitments, finds itself unable to provide adequate security to its Gulf Arab partners or even reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It is still very likely that the war will continue, or else shortly resume, and the United States will be drawn back into this disastrous conflict of its own making.

Now more than ever, Washington needs true friends who can help it avoid rash and dangerous acts of aggression that threaten long-term U.S. interests. Spain has met that burden—and will deserve Americans’ thanks for doing so long after the crisis in Iran has passed.