BBC -Pedro Sánchez has delivered a strong rebuttal to US President Donald Trump’s threat to end trade with Spain by restating his opposition to war and what he called the “breakdown of international law”.

In a 10-minute televised address, the Spanish prime minister reflected on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as the Iraq War more than 20 years ago, and said the Spanish government’s position could be summed up as “no to war”.

Trump threatened to impose a full trade embargo on Spain in response to its refusal to allow the US to use the jointly run bases at Morón and Rotafor to strike Iran.

“Spain has been terrible,” Trump said during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday.

“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.

Merz said later he had told Trump very clearly that he could not conclude a separate trade agreement with Germany or all of Europe but not with Spain.

In response to the US economic threat, the Élysée Palace said French President Emmanuel Macron had conveyed his “solidarity” with Spain during a phone conversation with Sánchez on Wednesday. European Council President António Costa also said he had spoken to the Spanish leader “to express the EU’s full solidarity”.

Trump accused Spain on Tuesday of being a “terrible partner” in Nato for failing to increase its defence budget in line with a target of 5% of economic output (GDP).

Earlier this year, Sánchez drew Trump’s ire by speaking out against the US military incursion into Venezuela.

Sánchez said in his televised address from the prime minister’s official residence in Madrid on Wednesday that the government was studying economic measures to counter the impact of the conflict on Spaniards, though he avoided directly referring to Trump’s trade threat.

“The question is not if we are on the side of the ayatollahs [Iran’s clerical rulers] – nobody is. The question is whether we are in favour of peace and international legality,” he said.

“You cannot answer one illegality with another, because that is how the great catastrophes of humanity begin.”

Spain’s Socialist prime minister explained that the government’s position was comparable to its stance on Ukraine and Gaza. Sánchez has been a vociferous critic of Israel’s military response to the Hamas attacks in 2023.

Spain has been among Europe’s most outspoken governments on Gaza, describing Israel’s actions there as “genocide” and acknowledging a Palestinian state before many other EU members did.

That position was in step with his coalition partners to his left and, broadly speaking, with Spanish attitudes toward the Middle East.

Looking back to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which he said had failed to achieve its goals and had made life worse for ordinary people, he warned that the attacks on Iran could have a similar economic impact for millions.

His reference to the Iraq invasion will connect with many Spanish voters. Spain’s support at the time from the conservative People’s Party (PP) government was deeply unpopular, and triggered mass anti-war protests.

Many believe it also lay the groundwork for the Socialist Party’s surprise election victory in March 2004, days after Madrid had been hit by deadly jihadist bombings.

Sánchez reminded Spaniards of the “Azores trio” – the then-US President George W Bush, the UK’s Tony Blair and Spanish conservative leader José María Aznar – who had met on a Portuguese base in the region days before the Iraq invasion.

He said they had handed Europeans the “gift” of “a more insecure world and worse life”.

The Spanish leader’s stance contrasts strongly with that of Merz, who told German TV on Tuesday that regime change in Iran would leave the world “a little better off”, though he also said this was “not without risk and we would also have to bear the consequences”.

Unlike Spain’s fellow Nato allies – the UK, France and Greece – it has not yet committed to any military involvement in response to the war.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that Spain had “agreed to co-operate” with the US military after hearing Trump’s message “loud and clear” – a claim Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares categorically denied, telling local media that his government’s position “has not changed one iota”.

Trump threatens to halt trade with Spain over military base access

Aside from the fierce criticism Sánchez has faced from the US, his coalition government has faced months of enormous political pressure, generating constant speculation that its collapse could be imminent.

It has been struggling to maintain its parliamentary majority, which includes an array of left-wing and regional nationalist parties.

Allegations of corruption against several of his allies and inner circle have severely weakened his position.

In Spain’s deeply polarised politics, much of the support for Sánchez is driven as much by concerns about the country’s right and far-right as it is by endorsement of his leadership and policies.

Standing up to the US president may have electoral benefits for the Socialist leader.

A recent poll by the CIS research institute found that 77% of Spaniards had a “bad” or “very bad” opinion of Trump, suggesting that even many right-wing voters may back Sánchez on this issue.

However, there is now uncertainty in Spain over whether Trump’s threats will translate into some form of economic reprisals, and many Spaniards will be watching this drama nervously.

BBC –A wave of US and Israeli strikes has destroyed or damaged at least 11 Iranian naval vessels since Saturday, new satellite images reviewed by BBC Verify show, with missile bases and nuclear sites also hit by attacks.

Images of the southern Konarak naval base and the Bandar Abbas facility, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz and houses the headquarters of the Iranian navy, show smoke billowing from multiple ships on Monday and Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US was “annihilating” the Iranian navy, listing the force’s destruction as one of America’s three main goals. His Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine had fired on an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday.

Among the vessels destroyed was the IRINS Makran, Iran’s largest naval vessel, which had served as a drone carrier. Satellite images showed black smoke pouring from the ship which had been docked at Bandar Abbas base.

Maritime security firm Vanguard said that the IRIS Bayandor, IRIS Naghdi, and the IRIS Jamaran were also among the ships destroyed in the strikes. The firm also claimed that the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, a state-of-the-art drone carrier ship launched by Iran last year, had been sunk – although BBC Verify cannot independently confirm this.

Analysts at the intelligence firm MAIAR said at least five ships at Bandar Abbas were “hit or sunk”. Satellite images of the southern end of the port show smoke rising from Makran, while two other vessels appear to be damaged, one visibly ablaze.

At Konarak, images show multiple damaged vessels, with MAIAR telling BBC Verify that they had identified damage to six vessels.

The photos taken on Monday show that multiple buildings at the base have also been demolished.

The head of US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, claimed that 17 Iranian vessels, including its “most operational” submarine, have been destroyed.

“For decades the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping,” Adm Brad Cooper said in a video posted to X. “Today, there is not a single Iranian vessel underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop.”

Some vessels reportedly destroyed may have been obscured in satellite images by cloud or smoke, or struck at sea, and have not been independently verified by BBC Verify.

Sri Lankan officials said on Wednesday that one Iranian ship was sinking near its waters and that it launched a rescue operation, with 140 people currently missing. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth later said that a US submarine struck an Iranian ship with a torpedo in the Indian Ocean.

Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett, ex-head of the Irish military, told BBC Verify that the US and Israeli attacks appeared to have “largely neutralised for now or at least suppressed” the Iranian navy’s ability to sustain conventional attacks using its biggest warships.

But he emphasised that Iran retains the ability to launch unconventional attacks at sea through the use of drones, mini-submarines and shadow fleet vessels – a network of tankers sailing under obscured ownership. MAIAR analysts also told BBC Verify that Tehran could turn to smaller, fast-attack vessels armed with anti-ship missiles in the coming days as Iran’s largest warships continue to be targeted by US and Israeli strikes.

Iran also has the ability to disrupt commercial shipping, with Mellett observing that it could plant mines in key shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz or launch drone attacks on tankers and key ports.

Images show damage to missile sites

President Trump listed the destruction of Iranian missile bases and the prevention of nuclear weapons development as the other objectives of the American air campaign.

In his statement on Tuesday night, Adm Cooper said that hundreds of air defence sites, ballistic missiles and drones had been destroyed by US strikes. Satellite images also showed damage at the southern Khorgu and north-western Tabriz missile bases, and at the Konarak air base, missile storage facilities and bunkers were hit.

At the Choqa Balk-e drone base west of Kermanshah, extensive damage was seen to storage buildings, bunkers and drone launch equipment.

Destruction was also seen to a radar installation at the Zahedan airbase in eastern Iran, near the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Satellite images show that the latest wave of strikes have targeted facilities at Natanz – long said to be at the heart of Iran’s nuclear programme and which were both targeted by the US last year.

Following those attacks last summer Iran denied Trump’s claims that the US had “obliterated” the nuclear sites.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the buildings were used for pedestrian and vehicular access to the site’s underground enrichment facility and that “no radiological consequence” was expected as a result of the damage.

The total scale of the damage caused to Iranian military facilities remains unclear, with strikes continuing on Tuesday night and Israeli attacks targeting what it called “security headquarters” in the capital Tehran.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that the “decrease in Iranian missile attacks against Israel and the UAE strongly suggests that the effort to destroy ballistic missile launchers has had considerable success”.

Imagery shows extensive damage to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Pictures captured by intelligence firm Vantor on 3 March shows damage to at least six structures. There are also signs of damage at the National Defence University and Intelligence Ministry.

Gen Jospeh Vettel, ex-head of Centcom, told the BBC that many strikes had targeted Iran’s “internal security apparatus” and sought to degrade “the ability of the regime to control the population”.

A large number of civilian buildings also appear to have been hit in the capital and across Iran since the conflict began on 28 February. At least 160 people, including children, were reported killed after a school in Minab in southern Iran was hit, according to Iranian officials.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says 1,097 civilians have been reported killed since Saturday.

BBC Verify will continue to monitor satellite images as the situation develops.

A Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker has sunk in the Mediterranean between Libya and Malta after it was hit by explosions and a fire, Libyan port officials have said.

Russia accused Ukraine of targeting the Arctic Metagaz with “uncrewed sea drones” launched from the Libyan coast.

Ukraine’s SBU state security service has not commented on the allegation and the Libyan port authority said the cause of the fire was unclear.

The Libyans said the tanker was carrying about 62,000 tonnes of LNG before the blasts and that it sank about 130 nautical miles (240km) north of the Libyan port of Sirte.

Russia’s transport ministry said 30 Russians were aboard the Arctic Metagaz. Maltese Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said they were all found “safe and sound in a lifeboat” during a rescue operation by Malta’s armed forces.

Unverified night-time footage has emerged purportedly showing the ship ablaze after the attack, which occurred on Tuesday.

Serhii Sternenko, a popular blogger and adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister, posted pictures on Wednesday morning of what he said was the tanker in the Mediterranean, which had a “serious hole in the engine room compartment and is beyond repair”.

He did not elaborate where the pictures came from and they have not been independently verified.

“This is a terrorist attack,” Russia’s Vladimir Putin told state TV. “This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered something like this.”

Russia’s transport ministry called it “an act of international terrorism and maritime piracy”, singling out the European Union for complicity.

Moscow said the Arctic Metagaz – which had been en route from Russia’s northern port of Murmansk – was carrying cargo cleared in accordance with international rules.

The tanker was apparently heading for Port Said in Egypt and is considered part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet. It has been widely sanctioned by Western countries.

The ministry provided no evidence to back up its claim that the tanker was attacked by Ukrainian sea drones, though there were earlier unconfirmed reports of attacks from the Libyan coast.

The SBU told BBC Ukraine it was not commenting on “the situation with the tanker in the Mediterranean”, although a Ukrainian government-linked social media account, United24, teased that the drones were “Definitely. Maybe” not part of the Ukrainian fleet.

Marine tracking data indicated that the day before the fire, the tanker had last reported that it was sailing off the south-east coast of Malta.

It had sailed some considerable distance by the time the fire was reported and it is assumed the crew deactivated its automatic identification system.

Russia has deployed a surging number of vessels to transport oil and gas in an attempt to avoid international sanctions, which are aimed at slashing revenues that have been critical for funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Its shadow fleet is largely made up of aged tankers, many with obscure ownership or insurance.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022, Kyiv has carried out a number of attacks on such vessels using naval drones.

However, nearly all of such strikes have been in the Black Sea, which Russia and Ukraine both border.

China will send a special envoy to mediate in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday, as the war triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran continued its regional spread.

Beijing is a close partner of Iran and has said it backs Tehran in defending its sovereignty, while urging the United States and Israel to cease their attacks.

China “will send a special envoy on Middle East issues to regional countries for mediation”, Wang said during a call with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, according to a readout by Beijing.

The statement did not name the envoy or give details about which countries they would visit.

Beijing “has always been a force for peace and is willing to continue playing a constructive role”, Wang said.

“China strongly urges all parties to… return to dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible, and prevent the further escalation of tensions,” he added.