US planes depart bases in Andalucia after Spain refuses permission for American forces to attack Iran

US military planes have left Andalucia after the Spanish government blocked the use of its bases for strikes on Iran, Report informs via The Olive Press.

Flight tracking websites showed fifteen US aircraft departing Rota and Moron, where they were permanently stationed, after foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said the bases could not be used to attack Iran.

Rota and Moron, in Cadiz and Sevilla province respectively, are jointly operated by the US – but fall entirely under Spain"s sovereignty.

The development came after senior officials, including Albares and prime minister Pedro Sanchez, decried the US-Israeli strikes on Iran as ‘unjustified" and ‘dangerous."

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for an ‘immediate de-escalation" after branding the attack ‘unilateral" and a ‘breach of international law."

"It is possible to be against a hateful regime, as Spanish society as a whole is against the Iranian regime, and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention that is outside international law," Sanchez said.

"One must be against a war that was started without the authorisation of the US Congress or the UN Security Council and, as I said before, violates international law," he added.

The remarks came after strikes by US-Israeli forces on Saturday killed Iran"s longtime ruler, Ayatollah Khamenei, as well as at least 555 people throughout the country, according to the Iranian NGO Red Crescent.

The conflict quickly spilled over throughout the Middle East, with retaliatory strikes from Tehran targeting Israel, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Cyprus, and reportedly downing several US fighter jets in Kuwait.

Spain was joined by a handful of EU countries – including Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia – in criticising the war, while the UK, France, Italy and Germany publicly backed military action against Iran.