By Tim Lister, CNN

(CNN) — Most European leaders have trodden a fine line between offering limited support for US military action against Iran and warning of a regional conflagration.

Not Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. He has been outspoken in his criticism of US strikes, provoking anger and threats from the White House. But rather than back down, Sánchez and his government have doubled down.

Spain has significant trade and investment ties with the United States and a fellow member of NATO. Last year 4 million Americans visited the country. And just this month, Amazon said it would expand its investment in data centers in Spain to total nearly $40 billion.

The US also has major military facilities in southern Spain, at Rota and Morón. It’s the employment of those bases that kicked off the latest spat, with the Spanish government forbidding their use in support of the Iran strikes.

In angry comments at a news conference Tuesday, Trump threatened to cut off trade with Spain. And he added: “We could use their base if we want, we could just fly in and use it, nobody’s going to tell us not to use it.”

Sánchez did just that. Within 24 hours of Trump’s tirade, he went on national television with a simple message: “No to war.”

He described the US and Israeli strikes as “reckless and illegal” and said his country would “not be complicit in something that is bad for the world – and that is also contrary to our values and interests – simply out of fear of reprisals from someone.”

Sánchez accused the US of playing “Russian roulette with the destiny of millions.”

But he went further, arguing that leaders had a duty to make people’s lives better and taking an implicit dig at Trump. “It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are incapable of fulfilling that duty use the smoke of war to hide their failures and, in the process, line the pockets of a few,” he said.

When the White House said its trade threat had forced ⁠Spain to agree to cooperate with the US military, the claim was swiftly contradicted.

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Madrid’s position “on the war in the Middle East ‌and the bombing of Iran, regarding the use of our bases, has not changed at all.”

Europe’s minefield

Trump made his threats against Spain during a meeting at the White House with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who looked on in silence – itself eloquent testimony to yet another dilemma for Europe in dealing with Trump.

Over the past year many European leaders have tried to assuage Trump with a combination of flattery and accommodation, while drawing occasional red lines, such as with the American designs on Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at one point of Trump: “Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.”

This time round, it’s about whether Europe will allow bases on its territory to be used in support of US strikes.

Trump praised Germany and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for being cooperative. He told an Italian newspaper Saturday: “I love Italy, I think she is a great leader.”

Not so much the United Kingdom’s Keir Starmer.

The UK initially turned d

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Por Adam Cancryn

Cuando el presidente de EE.UU., Donald Trump, planteó por primera vez la posibilidad de una guerra con Irán, algunas de las reservas más serias provinieron de su segundo al mando.

El vicepresidente J. D. Vance, ex infante de Marina que alcanzó prominencia política como crítico de las guerras extranjeras, desaconsejó los peligros de lanzar otro conflicto impredecible en Medio Oriente.

Pero al hacerse evidente que Trump seguía favoreciendo la acción militar, Vance cambió de postura. Abogó porque Trump atacara con rapidez y decisión, argumentando que sería necesario minimizar las bajas estadounidenses y evitar que Irán atacara primero.

El cambio de postura del vicepresidente, descrito por dos personas familiarizadas con los acontecimientos, reflejó cómo los asesores más cercanos de Trump abordaron una guerra que inicialmente pocos consideraron imperativa, pero que todos acabaron apoyando.

Mientras Trump sopesaba el conflicto, muchas de las voces más fuertes a favor de la guerra provenían de aliados externos a la Casa Blanca, en lugar de su círculo más cercano, según media docena de asistentes, asesores y otras personas familiarizadas con el asunto. Estos actores más vocales finalmente acallaron los llamados más discretos a la cautela.

Además de Vance, el jefe del Estado Mayor Conjunto, general Dan Caine, expuso las posibles repercusiones negativas de atacar a Irán. El secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, ya ocupado gestionando las consecuencias del ataque de enero a Venezuela, ofreció un apoyo tibio al principio. Y la secretaria general de la Casa Blanca, Susie Wiles, había pasado los últimos meses más centrada en asuntos políticos, planeando un impulso a mitad de mandato centrado en las prioridades nacionales que, según ella, habían quedado eclipsadas por las incursiones de Trump en política exterior.

A pesar de las dudas, Vance y otros altos funcionarios opusieron poca resistencia a la guerra una vez que la consideraron inevitable, y dedicaron el período previo al ataque del 28 de febrero a ejecutar los deseos de Trump en lugar de intentar cambiarlos.

“Esta no es una Casa Blanca de ‘equipo rival’; el presidente no está permitiendo que diferentes mentes políticas se descuarticen en un debate abierto”, dijo Curt Mills, director ejecutivo de The American Conservative y uno de los profundamente escépticos ante la intervención extranjera. “Si el presidente no estaba dispuesto o no podía decir que no, íbamos a la guerra”.

Esos asesores de alto rango ahora se esfuerzan por desarrollar una estrategia a largo plazo para una lucha sin un final claro, pero con mucho riesgo para la presidencia de Trump y, para algunos, para sus propias aspiraciones políticas futuras.

El apoyo de Vance a la guerra ha alarmado al ala antintervencionista del Partido Republicano que él mismo cultivó durante años, apostando su fortuna en 2028 a lograr una victoria rápida en Medio Oriente con pocas muertes estadounidenses y sin consecuencias duraderas.

Para Rubio, considerado ampliamente como el principal rival de Vance para la postulación de 2028, un conflicto prolongado amenaza con poner en peligro la buena voluntad que ha acumulado tras supervisar una serie de tácticas exitosas en el extranjero. Pareció intervenir a los pocos días de iniciada la guerra, lo que provocó una rápida reacción negativa al sugerir que Israel lideró a Estados Unidos en el ataque a Irán. Se retractó de sus comentarios al día siguiente, después de que Trump discrepara públicamente.

“Esta es la naturaleza precaria de esta decisión e

By Karla Walsh, CNN

(CNN) — Reilly Meehan has never known a life that didn’t revolve around seasonal produce.

Now a private chef whose social media posts are devoured by more than 1 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok, Meehan grew up in Santa Cruz, California, in a home surrounded by wild blackberry bushes and a backyard peppered with peach trees and vegetable plots.

With all that produce ripe for the picking, “I was frequently out there harvesting and bringing ingredients into the kitchen and whipping things up with it,” Meehan recalled. “I feel like I had a cook’s intuition from very young. Whether or not it was actually edible is a totally different story! But I at least was trying.”

His first clue that the culinary world might offer more than a hobby arose at age 11, when Meehan entered a homemade, lattice-topped peach pie featuring that homegrown fruit in a baking competition at the Santa Cruz County Fair. As Meehan walked away with a big blue ribbon for first prize, he beamed — and planted a seed that he’d water years later.

His culinary career started in earnest at age 15, as a prep cook at his dad’s brewpub, The Seabright Brewery, in Santa Cruz. “I’d help out as a morning prep cook during summer break; chopping ingredients for the salads, prepping all the burgers, anything others might need. We served a lot of diners, so I learned a sense of urgency from a pretty young age,” Meehan said.

All that practice came in handy when high school graduate Meehan entered a cooking competition with a prize that included a scholarship to culinary school. He ranked second and raked in a lot of tuition support, so he enrolled.

After graduating from the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute in 2012, Meehan planted roots as an executive sous chef at a private club in San Francisco, where one of the regulars asked him to be their private chef. Craving a new challenge, Meehan accepted and began documenting his work on social media @chefreillymeehan, which he’s done for five years.

On these platforms, he offers a sneak peek into his work, be it hosting a chic dinner party in the Hamptons or planning a memorable holiday dinner for the family, all while sprinkling in tips about how to organize a refrigerator, how to tame the pungency of raw onions, and of course, how to celebrate seasonal ingredients.

The popularity of these little upgrades and refreshing recipes inspired Meehan’s new book “A Little Bit Extra: 100 Recipes That Serve Up Something Special” (out March 31).

So, what does that “extra” mean, exactly?

“People often ask me how to level up their cooking, and there are countless ways. This could be a small finishing touch, like a little bit of red wine vinegar to finish a soup, or some like lemon zest to brighten up roast chicken,” Meehan told me. “Or it can be like a whole other element, like a wedge of fried avocado to add a textural pop.” Through the recipes in his book and via social media videos, “I’d love for everyone to feel empowered to not be afraid to be a little over-the-top,” he said.

One tempting yet easy example is the jazzed-up yogurt that acts as the base for Meehan’s recipe of Delicata, Pom and Goat Cheese Salad with Cumin Yogurt. When I told Meehan I was dreaming about the fresh produce available when he