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21-03-2026
BERLIN/ PARIS: For a self-described transatlanticist like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the language has been unusually blunt.
When President Donald Trump asked countries to join a global effort against Iran and deploy ships to prize open the Strait of Hormuz, whose near closure has held the global economy in a vice, he was rebuffed by some of America’s closest allies.
Merz told German lawmakers on Wednesday he agreed Iran must not be allowed to pose a threat to its neighbors but expressed doubts about the rationale behind the US-Israeli war.
“To this day, there is no convincing plan for how this operation could succeed. Washington has not consulted us and did not say European assistance was necessary,” he told lawmakers.
“We would have advised against pursuing this course of action as it has been pursued. Therefore, we have declared that as long as the war continues, we will not participate in ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, for example, by military means.”
European leaders have rejected direct involvement in US-Israeli military operations against Iran, wary of getting sucked into an unpredictable conflict whose aims they do not fully understand and is unpopular with their own citizens.
In doing so, they are calculating that the benefits of staying on the sidelines outweigh the multiple risks to transatlantic ties that are already under severe strain over anything from the war in Ukraine to tariff disputes.
Merz’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was just as direct as his boss on Monday: “This is not our war, we have not started it.” Echoing Germany’s stance, French President Emmanuel Macron also said “We are not party to the conflict”.
Europeans have long been wary that angering Trump could mean he cuts them loose on Ukraine or tries to force Kyiv to accept a deal that favors Moscow. Even the very existence of the NATO alliance has come into question, with countries rattled by Trump’s designs on taking Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark at the start of the year.
While giving no indication that he plans to punish NATO allies, Trump said they had made a “very foolish mistake” in failing to join the US in its military operations in Iran.
Trump reserved particular scorn for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who he said was “no Winston Churchill”, Britain’s leader during World War Two but Starmer and others have public opinion on their side. A poll by YouGov suggested Britons opposed the attacks by 49% to 28%.
That has forced Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party and the opposition Conservatives to temper their initial support for the US and Israeli strikes and even to offer some support.
“I’m Keir Starmer’s biggest critic, but the war of words coming from the White House is childish,” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said.
“I don’t like to see our Prime Minister be berated by foreign leaders,” Robert Jenrick from Reform UK said.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was quick to denounce the attacks on Iran as reckless and illegal and brushed off threats from Trump to cut trade with Spain if it did not allow jointly operated bases to be used for the war.
“We are certainly not going to be anybody’s vassals, we won’t tolerate any threats and we’ll defend our values,” Deputy Prime Minister Maria Jesus Montero said earlier in March.
The government’s stance is widely shared by Spaniards, with 68% declaring in a poll by Spanish company 40db that they were opposed to the war. (Int’l News Desk)
