War Or Peace in the Middle East? Either Way, Europe Remains on Sidelines ━ The European Conservative

The Israel-Iran conflict is up in the air after Donald Trump’s announcement of a truce was followed by what felt like an extraordinary short moment later by reports of violations. What’s more certain is that just as Europe played next to no role in the acceptance of this ceasefire, it will continue scoffing on the sidelines while the next steps are decided too.

This tentative truce started 12 days after Israel’s attack on Iran, and just two days after America began its involvement in strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, for which France’s Emmanuel Macron suggested there was “no legal basis.” That’s despite him apparently sharing the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Macron also suggested that the past week and more of strikes—which have set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions and weakened its Islamist regime—have actually “increased” the risk that Iran would attempt to enrich uranium secretly.

Reports also say Iran was initially persuaded to accept the U.S.-proposed ceasefire during a call with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who had himself just finished a conversation with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Germany’s Friedrich Merz has now urged both parties to stick to the truce, after saying Israel was doing the “dirty work” for “all of us” of defeating the Islamist threat to the West.