Spain rejects US request to participate in Gulf police force

Madrid has rejected an official request from Washington to participate in the joint forces it plans to form to secure the navigation traffic of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf region, Spanish newspaper El Confidencial said on Thursday.

The newspaper quoted diplomatic sources confirming that Madrid had received an official request from the United States to participate in these forces.

However, the same sources said that “the Spanish government has currently no intention to participate in joint US-led forces.”

The sources explained that Spain rejected the US request, as did Germany, and France is still studying this request.

Read: US formally asked Germany to join Hormuz mission

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, during a press conference, that Germany, “would not participate in the mission the United States plans to form.”

On Tuesday, the United States officially asked Germany to take part in securing the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf Region.

Spain had withdrawn its frigate Méndez Núñez, from joint force led by US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, on its way to the Gulf on 14 May.

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said at the time that the decision “was not political, but was purely technical.”