Athens, Greece – Iran has warned European leaders not to join the US-Israel war that has destabilized the Middle East and disrupted economies around the world.
While countries in Europe have found common ground in condemning Iran’s retaliatory attacks against non-belligerents in the Gulf, their positions have been confused and incoherent in reaction to the US-Israeli action that caused them.
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The fact that Iran is a close ally of Russia, against whose war in Ukraine almost all members of the European Union are united in condemning and containing, and that a Russian antenna was reported to have been discovered on Sunday to have been used on a drone that attacked Cyprus, an EU member, has not been enough to unite Europeans against Iran as effectively as they have against Russia.
There are two extremes at play. Spain evacuated US military planes from its bases, prompting a harsh rebuke from US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday threatened to “cut off all trade” with Madrid. Meanwhile, Germany has decided to welcome American targets.
In between, the United Kingdom has allowed its Akrotiri military base in Cyprus to be used by American aircraft for purely defensive purposes.
“The Mullah regime is a terrorist regime responsible for decades of oppression of the Iranian people,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday, two days before meeting Trump at the White House. “We share the interest of the United States and Israel in seeing an end to the terror of this regime and its dangerous nuclear and ballistic weapons.”
Germany’s position now breaks its alignment with the other members of the EU triad, the United Kingdom and France. The three countries had backed negotiations with Tehran even after Trump unilaterally revoked the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the signature diplomatic achievement of former US President Barack Obama, who lifted sanctions against Iran in exchange for monitoring its nuclear program.
Spain’s position is one of principle, said José Ignacio Torreblanca, a distinguished member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a political think tank.
“The Spanish government has been constantly calling for respect for international law both in Ukraine and in Gaza, now in Iran,” Torreblanca told Al Jazeera, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Israeli disregard for humanitarian law in Gaza and attacks on Iran that are not authorized by the United Nations Security Council.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said clearly that this military operation is not covered by international law, Torreblanca said, noting that while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially did not authorize the United States to use a military base on Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean, but now backs the attacks, “Spain is maintaining consistency.”
Diego Garcia, home to a joint UK-US military base, is one of dozens of islands that make up the Chagos Archipelago. Starmer acknowledged last month that the Chagos Islands should be Mauritius’ sovereign territory under international law.
Starmer said Akrotiri’s use was strictly defensive.
“The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the (Iranian) missiles at their source, in their storage depots or at the launchers used to fire missiles. The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose,” Starmer said. “We have made the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran from firing missiles throughout the region… That is in accordance with international law… We will not join in these attacks, but we will continue our defensive actions in the region.”
Can Europe invoke NATO Article 5 for collective defense?
Ukraine, invited in December 2024 to become a future member of the EU, has gone further and applauded the disappearance of the Russian drone supplier Shahed, of which it shot down around 44,700 over its cities last year. He also plans to assist in efforts to take them down.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has once again tried to build a consensus in the EU on the basis of negotiation. He called for containment, reduction of tensions, “a credible transition for Iran, the definitive cessation of nuclear and ballistic programs and an end to destabilizing activities in the region.”
Europeans are beginning to unite around the idea of defensive action.
The Greek government on Monday sent four of its most sophisticated F-16 Viper fighter jets and two frigates to help defend Cyprus from possible new drone attacks.
The move is bold. One of the frigates, the Kimon, is the first of Greece’s new series of four Belharra and was delivered from French shipyards only in December. It has not completed its personnel exercises, a process estimated to take two years, and has not been officially commissioned by the Hellenic Navy.
However, it is sent into theater with a green crew because it carries the state-of-the-art Sea Fire radar and guidance system, which is capable of scanning and identifying hostile targets over more than 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles), transmitting attack coordinates to the Vipers.
On Tuesday, France announced it would join the fight and send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus. Britain followed and announced that it would send a warship to defend its base there.
The importance of these operations as the United States withdraws from Europe and the continent attempts to rise to the task of defending itself could not be more powerful. European preparations must include not only rearmament but also legal options for mutual defense in the absence of NATO, experts said.
“Cyprus is a member of the EU but not NATO, so it cannot invoke NATO Article 5 for collective defense,” said Elena Lazarou, director general of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, a think tank.
“What they can invoke is Article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union, something they have not done yet,” he told Al Jazeera. That article has returned to the spotlight following von der Leyen’s call for EU members to support progress towards an EU defense union.
“What we are seeing in Europe at the moment is a lot of bilateral and multi-nodal defense alliances, but Article 42.7 needs to be more specific in terms of the threats it addresses and the level of obligation of member states to assist if invoked,” he said.
“I think the time has come to breathe life into Europe’s mutual defense clause,” von der Leyen said at the Munich Security Conference last month. “Mutual defense is not optional for the EU. It is an obligation within our own treaty.”
