Austria Becomes Latest EU Country to Deny US Military Use of Its Airspace
Austria says it’s banned the U.S. military from using its airspace, adding to a growing list of countries denying requests from the U.S. military amid its joint war on Iran with Israel as President Donald Trump lashes out at allies for refusing direct participation in the atrocities.
The Austrian Defense Ministry cited its wartime neutrality policy for the decision. “There have indeed been requests and they were refused from the outset,” said Michael Bauer, a spokesperson for the ministry. When such a request “involves a country at war, it is refused,” Bauer said.
“The question is — why submit a request to a neutral state in the first place?” Bauer said to Politico. The country is ruled by a center-right coalition government, but has had a neutrality pledge since 1955, amid the Cold War.
The country is the latest to take a stance against directly aiding the U.S. and Israel’s war. Also citing its neutrality principles, Switzerland announced in March that it had halted all weapons export licenses to the U.S. and other involved countries since the first U.S.-Israeli bombardments on February 28, and would continue doing so “for the duration of the conflict.”
Spain has opposed the war from the start, with its socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez proclaiming “no a la guerra,” or “no to war” early in the bombardments. Spain has denied the U.S. use of its joint military bases, withdrawn its ambassador to Israel, and, this week, closed its airspace to military planes involved in the conflict.
“We don’t authorize either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran,” Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles told reporters on Monday, saying the war is “profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust.”
Spain has been one of the most vocal European critics of Israel’s genocide in Gaza as well.
However, other countries that have close ties with the U.S. are increasingly breaking from Trump with regard to the war.
Last week, Italy reportedly denied permission for U.S. aircraft to land at a base in Sicily on its way to the Middle East, though Italy’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, denied the claims and said the U.S. simply needs special permission to use its bases.
Germany’s president issued a rare rebuke of the Trump administration and Israel last week. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that the war “violates international law” and should cause a permanent rupture with the U.S. Steinmeier’s role is largely ceremonial, but the country’s right-wing chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has also criticized the war.
On Thursday, the U.K. said that roughly 40 countries convened to form a plan to jointly take action on Iran’s retaliatory closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The meeting reportedly included France, Germany, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and India — and did not include the U.S.
The U.S.’s exclusion comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out against European and other allies for refusing his demands to become directly militarily involved in forcing Iran to allow free passage through the strait. In posts on Truth Social this week, he said that France has been “VERY UNHELPFUL” in the war, and told countries like the U.K. to go to the Strait and “just TAKE IT.”
“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” he said. “Go get your own oil!”
On Wednesday, Trump also threatened to leave the NATO alliance as retaliation against European countries refusing to help with the war, calling it a “paper tiger” — though Politico reports that White House insiders have said that this is an empty threat.
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