Britain and Spain Reject Reported Plans by Trump to Punish Them

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Britain and Spain Reject Reported Plans by Trump to Punish Them

An internal Pentagon email, reported by the Reuters news agency, suggested Washington was reviewing options to penalize the two nations for insufficiently supporting the war in Iran.

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain in London on Wednesday. An internal Pentagon email suggested that America could withdraw support for Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

Credit...

Carl Court/Getty Images

By

Stephen Castle

and

Emma Bubola

April 24, 2026

Updated

2:26 p.m. ET

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Britain and Spain pushed back against Washington on Friday in response to a report that the Trump administration is considering whether to punish the two nations over their failure to offer full-throated support for the war against Iran.

An internal Pentagon email,

reported by the Reuters news agency

, suggested that options under review include withdrawing American support for Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands — which are also claimed by Argentina — and seeking to suspend Spain from NATO.

In a statement, the Pentagon did not directly address the Reuters report or the options discussed in it, but the press secretary, Kingsley Wilson, said: “Despite everything that the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us. 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.”

The report follows a succession of statements from an administration that has appeared

disdainful of international law

, questioned the value of the NATO and scolded allies who did not join the fight against Iran.

Questioning British sovereignty of the Falklands, an archipelago several hundred miles east of the Argentine coast, would be a significant diplomatic affront that could intensify trans-Atlantic tensions with Britain.

In 1982, Britain’s then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, sent a naval task force to the South Atlantic Ocean to recapture the islands after they were invaded by Argentina, then led by a military dictator,

Leopoldo Galtieri

.

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