Alyssa McMurtry
09 March 2026•Update: 09 March 2026
OVIEDO, Spain
Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz on Monday criticized remarks by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the war in Iran and the rules-based international system.
“We must demand respect for international law. Anything else is barbarity,” Diaz told reporters in Brussels. “That’s why what Ursula von der Leyen just said falls short.”
Earlier Monday, von der Leyen gave a speech to ambassadors in which she defended the idea that Europe needs a “more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy” that goes beyond the "old world order" based on the rules-based international system.
“You will hear different views about whether the conflict in Iran is a war of choice or a war of necessity,” she said. “But I believe this debate partly misses the point because Europe must focus on the reality of the situation to see the world as it actually is today.”
Spain has been an outspoken critic of the joint US-Israeli operation in Iran, refusing to allow Washington to use its military bases to launch attacks.
On Monday, von der Leyen expressed cautious optimism about the operation.
“The people of Iran deserve freedom, dignity, and the right to decide their own future—even if we know this will be fraught with danger and instability during and after the war,” she said.
Diaz, the leader of the far-left party Sumar in Spain’s progressive coalition government, said the Spanish government also stands with the people of Iran but added that “you can’t take justice into your own hands.”
“This war is illegal. It violates the UN Charter,” Diaz said. “Therefore, I ask the European Commission president to defend international law.”
The row came the same day POLITICO reported that a growing number of European governments are irritated by von der Leyen’s move to position herself as the EU’s leading foreign policy voice abroad amid the war in Iran.
“I felt I was hallucinating … watching Ursula von der Leyen call the heads of Gulf states,” Nathalie Loiseau, a centrist French lawmaker on the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told the outlet. “She has no diplomatic service, speaks without a mandate or intelligence briefings. Her words have no value beyond her individual statement.”
The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, is responsible for speaking on behalf of the bloc on foreign policy matters.
