Portugal has authorised the United States to use an airbase within the country, so long as the access was not used to bomb civilian infrastructure.
The conditional use has allowed 76 landings of U.S. aircraft at the Lajes air base, and 25 overflights of the territory, during the last 6 weeks of war on Iran.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said the conditional use was a show of “loyal cooperation”, but also confirmed the use was conditional on not targeting civilian infrastructure and that landings had been denied on several occasions as well.
The U.S. has been denied access to airspace and bases for its war on Iran by Spain, France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland so far.
"We are against any attack on civilian infrastructure, and we made that a condition for the use of the Lajes air base," Rangel said.
“The Portuguese government has always made a point of handling this transparently. We say when we authorise it and when there are transits of U.S. aircraft, other governments do as they see fit.”
