The United States considers excluding Spain from NATO, but do they have the means?

Spain is once again at the center of tensions within NATO, according to the Madrid-based site El Confidencial. In an internal email at the Pentagon, revealed on April 24 by the news agency Reuters, “various options for retaliation” are being considered by the U.S. defense to punish member countries of the Atlantic Alliance who do not support the U.S. in its war against Iran, as reported by the Spanish media.

Among these options is the possibility of suspending Spain’s participation in the organization, a state that has been a member since 1982. El Confidencial questions whether the U.S. can actually expel Spain from NATO, before dispelling any suspense: “The answer is a categorical ‘no’.”

The Washington Treaty, the founding document of the Alliance that came into effect in August 1949, “provides for the possibility for a country to voluntarily leave the organization, but not to be excluded against its will,” specified El País, Spain’s most widely read newspaper. “In 75 years of history,” no state has ever been expelled from NATO, concludes El Confidencial.

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The possibility of excluding Turkey, “due to its military intervention in Syria,” was indeed discussed at one point, but “never materialized,” as recalled (Context: This article discusses tensions within NATO and the possibility of countries being excluded from the organization, including Spain and Turkey.)