Why Europe's leaders have struggled to speak as one on Iran

BBC

Europe knew this might be coming. For weeks, leaders and policymakers watched as the US military built up in the Middle East. They heard the threats of the Trump administration to Tehran: Give up all nuclear aspirations - or else!

But since the US-Israeli attack on Iran three days ago, this continent has looked at best uncoordinated, if not fractured and decidedly without leverage, caught up in the maelstrom of events.

Each European country is understandably anxious about its citizens in the region, whether and how they may need to evacuate tens of thousands of people in total.

European governments are also worried about the impact the unfolding Middle East crisis may have on consumers back home. On energy and food prices, for example. European gas prices have soared to an extent not seen since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Politically, Europe is clearly struggling to find a united voice on the fast-paced, dizzying developments in the Middle East.

The continent's Big Three, France, Germany and the UK, did manage to issue a joint statement at the weekend, warning Iran they were ready to take "defensive action" to destroy its ability to fire missiles and drones unless Tehran stopped its "indiscriminate attacks".

Since then, the UK has agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for "defensive" strikes on Iranian missile sites - although President Trump has been critical that the UK hasn't been more active. France is bolstering its Middle East presence after an Iranian strike hit a French base in the United Arab Emirates, and Germany says its soldiers remain ready for "defensive measures" should they be attacked, but nothing beyond that was being planned.

Sustainable solution

All three countries stopped short of questioning the legality of the US-Israeli strikes under international law. Querying Washington was also conspicuous by its absence from the raft of tweets the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has been posting.

A top consideration for all these European leaders is avoiding alienating Donald Trump. They desperately hope events in the Middle East will not be another distraction for the US president, preventing him - again - from engaging in finding a sustainable solution to another conflict, this one on their own continent: Ukraine.

But does the evasiveness of some leading European powers about the legality of recent US actions in Iran or Venezuela, for example, muddy the waters? They often say this is a Europe of common values that respects a rule-based international order. But what exactly are the rules?

Spain's prime minister says he's clear. Pedro Sanchez took to social media, proclaiming "one can be against a hateful regime, as is the case with the Iranian regime… and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law".

Several US aircraft left Spain on Monday after Madrid said those bases could not be used for attacks on Iran.

Meanwhile, the European Union has appeared totally uncoordinated. A statement by the foreign ministers of member states stopped short of advocating regime change in Iran. At the same time, the President of the European Commission (the EU's main executive body) did just that on Sunday. "A credible transition in Iran is urgently needed," its President, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a social media post.

This was hardly a show of speaking with one voice.

And yet the declared ambition of European nations, in and outside the EU, including the UK, in this new, turbulent world of Big Power politics, is to work better together in areas of mutual interest, first and foremost in the arena of security and defence.

But the question is, are they really capable of doing so?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8z5zvlz5yo