Rubio visits Portugal, praising a ‘great ally’ and looking to build deeper ties

On the final stop of a NATO tour, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Portugal as a "great ally" during his arrival in Lisbon on Thursday. Rubio, who had previously delivered a speech in Athens, urged European nations to uphold Western values and traditions by supporting the U.S. in the Iran war. The U.S. Air Force has utilized Lajes Field, a base in Portugal's Azores islands, for military refueling flights for decades.

Unlike Spain, which has denied the U.S. use of its bases for Iran attacks, Portugal granted Washington "conditional approval" to utilize Lajes Field. While neighboring Spain's stance angered President Donald Trump, Portugal's government considered the arrangement a demonstration of its loyalty as an ally. Portugal, a small nation with fewer than 11 million people, allocates over 2% of its GDP to defense and plans to increase this to approximately 3%.