When Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez forbade U.S. forces from using Spanish bases to support the war in Iran and then banned U.S. military overflights, President Donald Trump was furious, but Sanchez stood firm.

“We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world,” Sánchez declared in a Mar. 4 televised address. Trump called the decision “terrible” and “uncooperative,” and responded, “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”

Trump’s anger is legitimate, but he takes the wrong approach. As Sanchez battles a corruption investigation targeting his wife and associates, he seeks to pick a fight with Trump to rally his own socialist base. Name-calling plays into his hands.

ITALY REFUSED US WAR PLANES ACCESS TO AIRBASE, CLAIMS ‘NO FRICTIONS’ WITH WHITE HOUSE

Nor is the denial of access to Naval Station Rota or Moron Air Base the major problem for the United States. As special forces veteran Jose Lev Alvarez Gomez points out, Sanchez has quietly sold military technology and equipment to Tehran to advance the Islamic Republic’s drone program. Put another way, under........

© Washington Examiner