The Spanish PM has been among Europe’s most outspoken critics of military escalation in the region, as well as a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights.
News of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran was broadly welcomed across Europe. But while leaders such as Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron expressed relief tempered with restraint, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez delivered a response that stood apart for its directness and conviction.
Speaking from Saudi Arabia’s Al Taif airbase, Starmer described a “sense of real relief” while warning that it remained “early days,” with a lot of work still required to secure lasting peace and stabilise energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Macron, meanwhile, welcomed the ceasefire but urged that it be expanded to include Lebanon and Hezbollah.
Sánchez, however, went further. While acknowledging that any ceasefire is positive, he refused to separate the agreement from the destruction that preceded it. In a message posted on X on April 8, he wrote:
“Ceasefires are always good news. Especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost. The government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket. What’s needed now: diplomacy, international legality, and PEACE.”
As leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, Sánchez has been among Europe’s most outspoken critics of military escalation in the region, as well as a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights. While other European governments hesitated, trying to work out if they should support the military action, Sánchez was clear from the offset, banning the US from using its military bases.
When Trump responded with predictable personal attacks, the Spanish PM didn’t waver. He reiterated Spain’s “clear and consistent” position, the same as its response to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
He compared the action in Iran to the Iraq war, saying he didn’t want to repeat “the mistakes of the past,” and criticising leaders who exploit the “fog of war” to obscure their own failures.
Public reaction to Sánchez’s comments has been widely supportive. Many praised him for articulating what others hesitated to say and other described his intervention as a “voice of sanity” and a call for dialogue over destruction.
“Thank you, Prime Minister. For being the voice of sanity amid this bloody madness unleashed by Netanyahu and Trump. And for not staying silent or looking the other way, as others are doing out of fear and servility,” was one comment.
There is little doubt that Donald Trump will seek to present the ceasefire as a triumph of his negotiating skills, a narrative already echoed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who has described it as a “victory for the United States.”
In reality, however, the agreement can just as easily be seen as an attempt to contain the fallout from a crisis largely of his own making.
As the London Economic posted: “Ceasefire agreed for stupidest war in history. Donald Trump looks set to give Iran everything they want in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz – which was open before he started bombing Iran.”
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