US Navy Considers Moving Strategic Base from Spain to Morocco, Raising Regional Concerns

While the military agreement between the United States and Spain on the occupation of the naval base in Rota on the Atlantic coast in the southwest of the Iberian peninsula will expire in May 2021, Morocco has offered to host these American ships at the Ksar Sghir base in the Strait of Gibraltar, north of the kingdom, reports El Espanol. However, the Spanish authorities are expressing their concern. According to a Moroccan military source, the kingdom had "quadrupled the surface" of the Ksar Sghir naval base to allow it to "accommodate even submarines". Morocco also has another site to offer the Americans, that of Agadir.

According to the Spanish Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, Washington has "still not submitted an official request to extend the presence of the US Navy at the Rota base," adds the same source. But at the NATO summit, Donald Trump did not react to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s proposal to renew the military agreement after its expiration in May 2021. Everything suggests that the United States has accepted the proposal from the Moroccan authorities.