Europe favors tepid response to Trump’s Iran operation. Does it matter?
Who's accountable for the results?
Many of Washington’s long-standing allies are hedging engagement in U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran, but their involvement is likely not decisive to the conflict’s outcome.
In Spain, officials opened a rift with the United States after refusing to allow the Pentagon access to its military bases for “Operation Epic Fury.” In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is not prepared for London to join the conflict without “a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan” from the Trump administration. In France, President Emmanuel Macron described the operation as “outside international law,” echoing skepticism from other NATO members, including Germany, which has likewise sidelined involvement in the war.
Does Europe have a voice?
Much of Europe doesn’t have the will to expand engagement significantly. But more notably, it doesn’t have the capacity to do so, former deputy national security adviser Victoria Coates said. Such partners can offer limited support in terms of soft power, lending a veneer of legitimacy and unity against Iran. But the strategic and material significance of major allies such as the U.K. has diminished in recent years as their military strength flounders, with weak defense budgets now facing the added strain of the Russia-Ukraine war, Coates said. Fears that individuals sympathetic to the Iranian regime could be among the floods of migrants London has ushered across its border could also be spurring Starmer’s reluctance to get involved, she added, musing that the prime minister could be looking to avoid triggering domestic terrorism.
Multiple foreign policy experts concluded that Western partners are largely irrelevant to the Iran conflict, made void by the strength of the U.S.-Israeli alliance. “The Israelis have one asset that’s called the Air Force, and their Air Force is where they’ve invested their money, and the Air Force is very good,” retired Col. Douglas Macgregor, a former senior adviser to the secretary of defense, said. “[The Europeans] they’ve got very serious problems at home,” he added.
“In the case of Keir Starmer and the U.K., the embarrassing reality is there’s very little they could do kinetically to support us,” Coates said. “Their capabilities have atrophied to such an extent that I guess if they feel like they can’t, can’t do much, they may as well not trigger a domestic security incident.”
The director of American security at the America First Policy Institute, Jacob Olidort, …
Who's accountable for the results?
Many of Washington’s long-standing allies are hedging engagement in U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran, but their involvement is likely not decisive to the conflict’s outcome.
In Spain, officials opened a rift with the United States after refusing to allow the Pentagon access to its military bases for “Operation Epic Fury.” In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is not prepared for London to join the conflict without “a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan” from the Trump administration. In France, President Emmanuel Macron described the operation as “outside international law,” echoing skepticism from other NATO members, including Germany, which has likewise sidelined involvement in the war.
Does Europe have a voice?
Much of Europe doesn’t have the will to expand engagement significantly. But more notably, it doesn’t have the capacity to do so, former deputy national security adviser Victoria Coates said. Such partners can offer limited support in terms of soft power, lending a veneer of legitimacy and unity against Iran. But the strategic and material significance of major allies such as the U.K. has diminished in recent years as their military strength flounders, with weak defense budgets now facing the added strain of the Russia-Ukraine war, Coates said. Fears that individuals sympathetic to the Iranian regime could be among the floods of migrants London has ushered across its border could also be spurring Starmer’s reluctance to get involved, she added, musing that the prime minister could be looking to avoid triggering domestic terrorism.
Multiple foreign policy experts concluded that Western partners are largely irrelevant to the Iran conflict, made void by the strength of the U.S.-Israeli alliance. “The Israelis have one asset that’s called the Air Force, and their Air Force is where they’ve invested their money, and the Air Force is very good,” retired Col. Douglas Macgregor, a former senior adviser to the secretary of defense, said. “[The Europeans] they’ve got very serious problems at home,” he added.
“In the case of Keir Starmer and the U.K., the embarrassing reality is there’s very little they could do kinetically to support us,” Coates said. “Their capabilities have atrophied to such an extent that I guess if they feel like they can’t, can’t do much, they may as well not trigger a domestic security incident.”
The director of American security at the America First Policy Institute, Jacob Olidort, …
Europe favors tepid response to Trump’s Iran operation. Does it matter?
Who's accountable for the results?
Many of Washington’s long-standing allies are hedging engagement in U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran, but their involvement is likely not decisive to the conflict’s outcome.
In Spain, officials opened a rift with the United States after refusing to allow the Pentagon access to its military bases for “Operation Epic Fury.” In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is not prepared for London to join the conflict without “a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan” from the Trump administration. In France, President Emmanuel Macron described the operation as “outside international law,” echoing skepticism from other NATO members, including Germany, which has likewise sidelined involvement in the war.
Does Europe have a voice?
Much of Europe doesn’t have the will to expand engagement significantly. But more notably, it doesn’t have the capacity to do so, former deputy national security adviser Victoria Coates said. Such partners can offer limited support in terms of soft power, lending a veneer of legitimacy and unity against Iran. But the strategic and material significance of major allies such as the U.K. has diminished in recent years as their military strength flounders, with weak defense budgets now facing the added strain of the Russia-Ukraine war, Coates said. Fears that individuals sympathetic to the Iranian regime could be among the floods of migrants London has ushered across its border could also be spurring Starmer’s reluctance to get involved, she added, musing that the prime minister could be looking to avoid triggering domestic terrorism.
Multiple foreign policy experts concluded that Western partners are largely irrelevant to the Iran conflict, made void by the strength of the U.S.-Israeli alliance. “The Israelis have one asset that’s called the Air Force, and their Air Force is where they’ve invested their money, and the Air Force is very good,” retired Col. Douglas Macgregor, a former senior adviser to the secretary of defense, said. “[The Europeans] they’ve got very serious problems at home,” he added.
“In the case of Keir Starmer and the U.K., the embarrassing reality is there’s very little they could do kinetically to support us,” Coates said. “Their capabilities have atrophied to such an extent that I guess if they feel like they can’t, can’t do much, they may as well not trigger a domestic security incident.”
The director of American security at the America First Policy Institute, Jacob Olidort, …
