Internal Pentagon Email Provides Options for Punishing NATO Allies for Not Supporting Iran War: Report

(Altaf Qadri/AP photo)

An internal Pentagon email suggests the United States may have plans for ally countries not supporting the war with Iran, according to a new report.

Reuters, citing a US official familiar with the situation, reported on Friday about the alleged Pentagon email.

The options listed in the email include suspending Spain from the NATO alliance, “reassessing US diplomatic support for European ‘imperial possessions,’ to include Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands near Argentina,” and suspending “difficult” countries from NATO, according to Reuters chief national security correspondent Phil Stewart.

Spanish ⁠⁠Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was asked during a European Union summit in Cyprus on Friday about the email and the possibility of being booted from NATO.

“I am absolutely not worried,” he said. “We do not work with emails. We work with official documents and positions taken, in this case, by the government of the US.”

He added, “The position of the government of Spain is clear: Absolute collaboration with the allies, but always within the framework of international legality.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth lashed out at European allies on Friday morning, mocking them for holding “fancy conferences” and not helping more to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply runs through. While President Donald Trump recently announced an extension of a ceasefire with Iran, they have still continued striking ships in the Strait where they have declared their own blockade.

“America and the free world deserve allies who are capable, who are loyal, and who understand that being an ally is not a one-way street, it is a two-way street,” Hegseth said. “We are not counting on Europe, but they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do and might want to start doing less talking and having less fancy conferences in Europe, and get a boat. This is much more their fight than ours.”

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