Portugal Opens Inquiry Into US Military Use of Azores Base During Iran War
The investigation tests the legal boundaries of basing agreements between NATO allies when one conducts offensive military operations that the host nation did not formally sanction.
Portuguese prosecutors have launched a formal investigation into the United States military's use of Lajes Air Base in the Azores during the war on Iran, according to Press TV. The inquiry marks a rare instance of a NATO member state subjecting another's military operations on its soil to domestic legal scrutiny.
Lajes Field, located on Terceira Island in the Portuguese Azores archipelago, has operated as a joint Portuguese-American installation under a series of bilateral defense cooperation agreements, most recently renewed in 2006 and extended through subsequent protocols. The base has served as a strategic refueling and logistics hub for US operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for decades.
The precise scope of the Portuguese investigation has not been disclosed in the initial reporting. What would clarify the inquiry's direction is the specific legal provision under which prosecutors are acting, whether Portugal's criminal code, its constitution, or the terms of the bilateral basing agreement itself form the basis of the probe.
Portugal's legal framework places obligations on the government to ensure that foreign military operations conducted from Portuguese territory do not violate international law or the country's own constitutional prohibitions on participation in aggressive war. Prosecutors acting independently of the executive branch have authority under the Portuguese constitution to open such inquiries without ministerial instruction.
The use of Lajes during the Iran conflict carries political weight in Lisbon because the Portuguese parliament was not reported to have granted explicit authorization for the base to be used in offensive strike operations against Iran. Portugal's constitution, under Article 275, subordinates armed forces activities abroad to oversight by civilian democratic institutions.
This is not the first time Lajes has been the subject of political controversy in Portugal. During the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, then-Prime Minister Jose Manuel Barroso permitted American and British forces to use the base despite large domestic protests, a decision that generated lasting parliamentary debate over the limits of executive discretion in basing agreements.
The current investigation differs from the 2003 episode in that it originates with prosecutors rather than parliament, suggesting the legal theory being pursued involves potential criminal or constitutional violations rather than purely political accountability.
The Azores basing arrangement is governed partly through NATO's Status of Forces Agreement, which provides legal immunities to US personnel for acts performed in the course of official duty. Whether those immunities extend to the policy decisions that directed the use of the base, as opposed to the individual conduct of service members, is a question that legal scholars in allied nations have debated without resolution.
A Portuguese Foreign Ministry response to the investigation has not been reported in available sources. The US Department of Defense had not issued a public statement on the inquiry as of the date of this report.
The outcome of the probe may carry implications for other NATO host nations that permitted American military operations on their territory during the Iran conflict, as a successful prosecution or a finding of constitutional violation in Portugal could embolden legislators or prosecutors elsewhere in Europe to pursue similar reviews.