 Portuguese Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar saw Francisco Franco as a kindred spirit, with both leaders being autocratic and against the socialist Republican Spain.Salazar also sought to make his country less reliant on the United Kingdom and so the Iberian Pact was one of many treaties signed between Portugal and foreign powers, including Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, as a means of expanding Portuguese influence.Finally, Portugal was concerned with Spanish, whether Republican or Nationalist, ambitions to attack Portugal or the British-held Gibraltar.