Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a press conference after attending a special summit of European Union leaders to discuss transatlantic relations, in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman

An Israeli legal advocacy group has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court seeking an investigation into Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez over allegations that Spain supplied weapons-related materials to Iran’s Islamist regime, potentially implicating him in alleged war crimes.

Filed by Shurat HaDin, an Israel-based non-governmental organization that pursues terrorism-related cases, the lawsuit claims Spain supplied “equipment and components used by Iran’s regime and its proxy forces for military purposes” amid widening regional escalation across the Middle East.

According to data from Spain’s Ministry of Trade, the Spanish government exported more than €1.3 million worth of dual-use materials to Iran in 2024 and the first half of 2025, including explosive components, laboratory reagents, and specialized control software.

Since Sánchez took office in 2018, official data indicates Spain has authorized roughly $7 million in dual-use exports to Iran with potential military and nuclear applications, and machinery shipments alone reached about $80 million in 2024.

Shurat HaDin argues such exports occurred despite a “well-documented” pattern of Iranian support for terrorist groups across the region, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.

Under international law, states or entities that supply essential components enabling the operation of weapons systems may be held liable for aiding and abetting war crimes, even when those items are formally classified as dual-use goods.

“These materials are not innocent industrial products, but critical components that enable explosive devices to function, and they were transferred in circumstances where their use for attacks against civilians was foreseeable and reasonable,” Shurat HaDin said in a statement.

Spain’s Prime Minister is now facing a complaint at the International Criminal Court.

Shurat HaDin has filed an ICC complaint against Pedro Sánchez, alleging Spain enabled the transfer of dual-use components to Iran worth €1.3 million.

These dual-use components are not… pic.twitter.com/dJVilxR6Y6

— Shurat HaDin – שורת הדין (@ShuratHaDin) April 15, 2026

The Israeli organization also pointed to a recent Iranian propaganda campaign depicting a missile aimed at “US-Israeli assets” alongside a message thanking the Spanish leader, citing it as further evidence of what it describes as growing political alignment between the two countries.

With regional tensions continuing to escalate, Shurat HaDin is calling on the ICC to open a formal investigation and issue an arrest warrant against Sánchez, as well as to examine the involvement of other officials in export decisions.

This lawsuit comes amid already strained relations between Israel and Spain that began with the war in Gaza and have deepened through the conflict with Iran and wider regional escalation.

From unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state to repeatedly branding the war in Gaza a “genocide,” Madrid has been pursuing a fierce anti-Israel campaign aimed at undermining and isolating the Jewish state on the international stage.

In one of its most controversial recent moves, the Spanish government announced last week the reopening of its embassy in Tehran, just a few weeks after it permanently withdrew its ambassador from Israel.

Sánchez has publicly condemned Israeli strikes in Lebanon and the widening regional escalation tied to the Iran conflict, renewing calls for the European Union to suspend its association agreement with Israel and urging an end to “impunity for [Israel’s] criminal actions.”

The Spanish leader also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of breaching basic humanitarian norms, saying his “contempt for life and international law is intolerable.”

Last week, Israel expelled Spain from the United States’ Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat, a hub established to coordinate humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip, in response to Madrid’s increasingly anti-Israel stance and continued hostility toward the Jewish state.

Despite being a NATO ally, Spain had also recently closed its airspace to US aircraft involved in what officials described as a “reckless and illegal confrontation,” and barred Washington from using its bases for military operations against the Iranian regime.

As the local Jewish community continues to face an increasingly hostile climate and targeted violence, Sánchez has drawn mounting criticism from political opponents and Jewish leaders who accuse his rhetoric of fueling antisemitic hostility across the country.