U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a thank-you to Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel for his country’s “close” economic and defense cooperation, according to a statement from the U.S. State Department. Rubio, who serves as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, “highlighted the continued strength of bilateral ties” during a phone call with Rangel on March 31, 2026.
“Secretary Rubio thanked Foreign Minister Rangel for Portugal’s close economic and defense cooperation. Both leaders expressed their commitment to transatlantic security,” U.S. Department of State Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott went on to say about the conversation between the two men. Rangel posted about the phone call on his social media, stating that he talked with Rubio about the situation in the Middle East.
Operation Epic Fury began on February 28, 2026, when a joint-military strike by the U.S. and Israel took out Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and much of Iran’s leadership. Several other nations in the region have been impacted by the bombing, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain. Portugal allowed the U.S. to use the U.S. airfield at Lajes in the Azores to launch planes for near-daily missions since the operation began.
According to The Herald News, the Portuguese government granted “conditional authorization” for the use of the Lajes Base located in Terceira after the attacks on Iran started. The approval was given on the condition that the infrastructure only be utilized “in response to an attack, within the framework of defense or retaliation,” and that the action remains “necessary and proportional,” and that it “target only military objectives.”
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro told parliament in mid-March that the United States’ usage of the Lajes Base “fulfilled the conditions underlying the authorization.” Spain took the opposite course of action, prohibiting the U.S. from using American military bases located in the country. They also banned the use of Spanish airspace for any operations related to Iran.
The Spanish government believes the war in Iran to be illegal and a violation of international law. Rubio ripped into Spain and NATO over its failure to support the U.S. war effort. “We have countries like Spain, a NATO member we are committed to protecting, denying us the use of its airspace and boasting about it, denying us the use of its bases,” Rubio said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
“Other countries have done the same, and so we wonder: what does the United States gain?” he went on to say. The secretary of state then said that he backs NATO due to providing U.S. bases with “influence, flexibility, and operational capacity worldwide.” But he then added, “But if NATO only serves for us to defend Europe if it is attacked, while they deny us access to their bases when we need them… it is not a very good deal.”
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President Trump has also been greatly displeased with Spain and their failure to provide support against the hostile and oppressive Islamic regime in Iran, threatening to cut off trade with the European nation for their lack of cooperation. “We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” Trump said. “I could tomorrow – or today, even better – stop everything having to do with Spain, all business having to do with Spain,” the president added.