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US President Donald Trump fired broadsides at some European allies on Tuesday, sitting alongside German President Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office.
“We’re not dealing with Winston Churchill,” he said of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after again criticizing London for refusing U.S. permission to use British military bases in the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean for attacks against Iran.
Not content with criticizing one European leader, President Trump also questioned Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, threatening to impose a complete U.S. embargo on Spain in response to the socialist leader’s opposition to U.S. attacks on Iran.
Mertz sat next to Trump and remained mostly silent, but later told reporters that he “mentioned both issues very explicitly in private conversations…because I didn’t want to air the conflict publicly.”
His words signal a new rift between the United States and Europe and highlight the delicate balance European leaders have been trying to forge since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran on Saturday.
On the one hand, they have supported their Gulf allies, remained under the NATO security umbrella, and sought to placate Washington, where Ukraine’s involvement in a potential peace deal remains essential. Meanwhile, European countries have minimized their involvement in a war that many countries reject as legitimate and is deeply unpopular at home.
The E3 countries, Germany, France and Britain, stopped short of explicitly condoning or condemning the US and Israeli attacks in a joint statement. Instead, it condemned Iran’s retaliation, reiterated its criticism of the country’s regime, called for a “resumption of negotiations” and said it remained in “close contact with our international partners.”
Still, even if they frame their involvement as defensive, they risk being drawn into a spiraling regional war. Such danger was brought to light on Wednesday when NATO air defense systems shot down an Iranian missile flying toward Turkish airspace, believed to be the first time that allied forces have intercepted an Iranian missile traveling toward a member state’s airspace.
Some European countries are investing military resources to protect their interests in the region. Starmer said on Sunday that Britain had agreed to allow the United States to use its military bases for “defensive strikes” against Iranian missile sites. Britain also sent helicopters and warships equipped with anti-drone capabilities, which are expected to take about a week to arrive on the Mediterranean island, following Tuesday’s drone attack on a British military base in Cyprus.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday evening that a French frigate had arrived in Cyprus, adding that he was also sending “additional air defense assets.”
French and British air defense forces based in the region are also engaged in limited operations, helping to shoot down Iranian drones and missiles, while being wary of remaining within the bounds of a legitimate war.
It has been pointed out that the Trump administration’s rationale for attacking Iran is vague and changing. President Trump and his top officials have contradicted each other and, without providing any evidence, stretched the boundaries of logic and U.S. intelligence estimates to define the “immediate” threat posed by Iran and its nuclear program. They dismissed U.S. intelligence agencies that suggested Iran would need until 2035 to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as President Trump’s own claims that the program was “annihilated” by last summer’s U.S. attack.
As a former human rights lawyer well-versed in the intricacies of international law, Starmer has avoided getting involved in wars whose legal status is questionable.
Notably, the UK’s legal advice provided only that the country would engage in “collective self-defense of regional allies that have requested assistance” and facilitate “specific and limited defensive action against Iranian missile facilities involved in attacks on regional allies.”
“This is not to suggest that the UK is engaging more broadly in the ongoing wider conflict between the US, Israel and Iran,” the statement added.
Macron went further, saying in a speech to France on Tuesday that the US and Israeli airstrikes were “carried out outside the bounds of international law”, but that Iran was “primarily responsible for this situation”.
However, E3 groups do not function as a single entity. Before heading to Washington to meet with President Trump, Mertz stressed that he had no intention of lecturing allies on international law.
And despite refusing to allow British troops to take part in offensive operations, Mr Starmer on Wednesday stressed how the special relationship works “in practice”, telling parliament that British jets supporting the defense of US forces represented the essence of the alliance, rather than “clinging on President Trump’s latest word”.
At a time when most European countries are trying to at least assist the United States in defense, Mr. Sánchez has emerged as the continent’s most vocal Trump critic, refusing to draw Spain into any kind of war even after Mr. Trump’s trade threats.
“We are not going to take part in something that is bad for the world, something that is against our values and interests, just to avoid reprisals from someone,” Sanchez said in a televised address in Spain on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
For both European policymakers and the general public, concerns about the Iraq War remain looming large over the growing conflict in the Middle East. Entering the war in 2003 was a hugely unpopular decision by Britain’s previous Labor government, and as the first Labor prime minister since then, Starmer will be keen to avoid repeating his party’s mistakes.
Despite winning an overwhelming majority nearly two years ago, he has faced challenges from the left and the right and his standing has declined, most recently suffering an embarrassing defeat to the progressive Green Party in a by-election last week, whose victory was a reminder of the left’s anger at the government.
Similarly, criticizing the West’s new wars in the Middle East is safer political ground for Mr. Sanchez, who has to navigate corruption scandals and a crushing defeat in last month’s local elections.
