A confidential internal email from the US Department of Defense, obtained exclusively by Reuters, has laid out a slate of potential punitive measures Washington could deploy against NATO member states that refuse to back the US-led campaign against Iran, including the extraordinary step of expelling Spain from the 75-year-old transatlantic alliance.
The leaked document comes amid long-running tension stoked by former President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly blasted what he frames as an unfair power dynamic within NATO, where the US carries a disproportionate share of collective defense costs while many allies fail to align with Washington’s key foreign policy priorities. Trump has openly vented his frustration at widespread European pushback against the US-Israeli military campaign in Iran, and previously threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance entirely — a step not referenced in the internal Pentagon planning document.
Spain has emerged as the most outspoken European critic of the conflict, labeling the operation illegal from its launch and barring US forces from accessing Spanish military bases or national airspace for Iran war operations. In the Pentagon’s internal assessment, these actions were framed as a fundamental violation of the baseline expectations for alliance members contributing to collective efforts. On Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pushed back firmly against the reports of potential expulsion during a press briefing on the sidelines of an EU summit in Nicosia. “Spain is a reliable member within NATO that is fulfilling all its obligations,” Sánchez told reporters, adding “As a result, I am absolutely not worried” about any threats of expulsion.
The United Kingdom, another key NATO ally, has also drawn Trump’s anger for its limited opposition to the Iran war. While London allowed US aircraft to operate from British military bases, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has not aligned fully with Washington’s campaign. One retaliatory option floated in the email is for the US to formally recognize Argentina’s longstanding sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands, known as Las Malvinas to Buenos Aires. The South Atlantic territory has been a point of contention between the UK and Argentina for decades, and a 1982 Argentine invasion sparked a 10-week war that killed nearly 1,000 servicemembers from both sides before the UK retook control of the islands. Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei, a close ideological and political ally of Trump, has repeatedly reaffirmed his country’s claim to the territory.
Other punitive options outlined include blocking NATO members deemed “difficult” by Washington from securing prominent leadership positions within the alliance’s institutional structure. As of publication, the UK Foreign Office had not responded to multiple requests for comment from Middle East Eye on the leaked plans.
When approached by Reuters for comment on the internal email, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson did not deny the document’s authenticity. “As President Trump has said, despite everything that the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us,” Wilson said in a statement. “The War Department will ensure that the President has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part. We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect.”