MADRID, March 2 (Reuters) – A map shown on Monday by flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed that 15 U.S. planes have departed from the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran over the weekend.
Spain condemned the move after Foreign Minister José Manuel Alvarez said Spain would not allow its military bases, jointly operated by the United States and Spain but under Spanish sovereignty, to be used in attacks against Iran.
FlightRadar24 shows at least seven planes have landed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Britain also initially refused to allow the use of its bases to attack Iran, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday authorized their use for “collective self-defence”.
Spain’s stance and Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s strong condemnation of U.S. and Israeli actions in Iran once again make it an outlier in the region and could further strain its relations with Washington.
“The Spanish base will not be used for this operation or for any activity that is not included in the agreement with the United States or is not in compliance with the United Nations Charter,” Alvarez said in an interview with Spanish broadcaster Telecinco.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles said the aircraft, mainly aerial tankers including Boeing KC-135 “Stratotanker”, were permanently stationed in Spain.
The tracking website FlightRadar24 showed that nine tanker planes departed from Moron Air Base in southern Spain on Sunday, bound for Germany.
FlightRadar24 showed two flights departing from Rota, a naval base with an airport, bound for southern France. Four more flights departed from Rota, but their routes were not shown.
(Reporting by Victoria Valdesi, David Latona, Elena Rodriguez, Emma Pinedo; Editing by Alex Richardson)
