Iran has launched a missile bearing a poster of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, thanking him for his public condemnation of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released footage of the missile, which displayed a portrait of the Spanish leader alongside a message in both Farsi and English: “We praise the Spanish minister who calls this war illegal. We say: not only is this war illegal, it is also inhuman. Thank you, Prime Minister.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry wasted no time responding. “Pedro Sánchez — Iran’s mullah regime is thanking you by putting your words on the missiles it fires at civilians in Israel and the Arab world,” the ministry said in a statement. “How does it feel knowing your face and words are on these missiles? Keep in mind that Europe — including Spain — is within range of these missiles.”

Sánchez had doubled down on his position just days earlier, ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels, declaring that Madrid “has condemned the war from the very first moment” and calling U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran “illegal.”

The imagery of a Western leader’s face on an Iranian missile crystallized growing tensions between Spain and its traditional allies. In one of Madrid’s most consequential moves in recent weeks, the Spanish government blocked the United States from using Spanish military bases for operations against Iran — a decision that prompted President Donald Trump to threaten the suspension of trade ties with Spain. Tehran praised the move shortly after it was announced.

Spain’s posture on the conflict is not new. Since the outbreak of war in Gaza in October 2023, Sánchez has emerged as one of Israel’s most aggressive critics on the world stage, unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state, repeatedly branding the Gaza war a “genocide,” and permanently withdrawing Spain’s ambassador from Israel — a step that earned the public praise of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Spain has also imposed sweeping trade restrictions on Israeli goods, barred entry to individuals it deemed complicit in the Gaza campaign, and passed legislation banning defense exports to Israel.

The escalating anti-Israel posture has come at a domestic cost. Spain’s Jewish community has faced a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents — from violent assaults and vandalism to legal harassment and street protests — and Jewish leaders and political opponents alike have accused Sánchez’s rhetoric of inflaming the hostile climate. The Iranian regime’s decision to publicly align itself with the Spanish prime minister, plastering his face and words on a ballistic missile aimed at civilians, is likely to intensify that criticism.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)