BRUSSELS — European countries are already in the crosshairs for Iran’s aggression and should drop their insistence on finding diplomatic solutions to the crisis, Israel’s top envoy to the EU said.
The continent “is in a war with Iran,” and has been for a long time, Avi Nir-Feldklein, Israel’s ambassador to the EU, told POLITICO in an interview, calling on Europe to unambiguously back military efforts to bring down the regime.
After Israel and U.S. struck Iran on Saturday, prompting retaliation from Tehran, European governments have broadly urged restraint and diplomacy while seeking to avoid being drawn into a wider war. Iran said Tuesday if European countries join the U.S.-Israeli strikes, it will consider them as having entered the conflict.
“You don’t have to have missiles or drones shot into your territory to be in a war with Iran. There were attacks on European soil that were initiated by Iranian agents,” Nir-Feldklein said. “They were operating and killing people on European soil before.”
European courts and intelligence agencies have repeatedly linked Iran to assassination and terrorism plots on the continent, including a 2018 foiled bomb attack in France that led to the conviction of an Iranian diplomat in Belgium.
The continent’s reaction to the U.S.-Israeli air raids that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leading figures has been mixed. While Germany and the U.K. have welcomed efforts to end the regime’s repressive theocratic rule, Spain has expressed concern over the sudden strikes, which came while negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program were still going on.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has branded the move “unjustified and dangerous,” while a joint statement on behalf of the EU urged “maximum restraint, protection of civilians and full respect of international law,” while urging “diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions.”
Nir-Feldklein rejected European calls for talks with the current regime “because they don’t mean what they are saying. Every time for them it’s a Persian bazaar — they are telling the negotiator of the other side what they want to hear but they are doing exactly different. They don’t believe in negotiation.”
“The EU is composed from 27 countries — it makes sense that you have differences,” he added, “but right and wrong should at least be easy to decide, and the Iranian regime is definitely something that is wrong.”
“We’re seeing some member states that are realizing right now what’s happening in Cyprus — that they should consider all kinds of actions,” he said. France said Tuesday it will send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus, and the U.K. is weighing sending a warship to the Mediterranean as part of “defensive operations.”
Starmer has repeatedly said that the U.K. will not get involved in offensive strikes in the Middle East. He said Monday that he does not believe in “regime change from the skies,” and the U.K. has learned not to engage in unlawful wars without a “viable” plan.
“The Gulf countries are calculating right now their reaction to the Iranian attack. If Europe wants to play a role, it’s [up to] Europe to play what kind of role they want,” Nir-Feldklein said. The continent should “stand by, understand and show patience for the goals” it believes in, he said, specifically “that this regime is the wrong regime and the Iranian people should determine their own future.”
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Ambassadors and foreign ministers from across the bloc met for closed door talks on Sunday, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen convened an emergency meeting of her top team on Monday to discuss the response to the crisis.
According to one official granted anonymity to speak frankly, the bloc’s concerns include “emergencies, aid, support for our nationals, consequences for supply chains, airspace closures, any potential increase in migration, cyber [and] potential Iranian sleeper cells.”