After a year of tariff threatsinsults and diplomatic clashes with European allies, President Donald Trump must wage a war in Iran with only Israel on its side.
“We are not dealing with Winston Churchill,” Trump said Monday after the British prime minister. Keir Starmer refused to allow the United States to use British bases as part of its initial strikes, only later authorizing the use of its bases for “defensive” actions.
A day later, after Spain banned U.S. military aircraft from using its jointly operated bases in Andalusia, Trump said the United States would seek to “cut off all trade with Spain,” a member of the European Union’s single market.
France, supporting Spain in its fight, further risked the president’s wrath as President Emmanuel Macron declared on Tuesday that strikes against Iran were “outside the framework of international law”.
Some European leaders remain in Trump’s good graces for the moment. Germany Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who sat alongside Trump when the president lashed out at Spain, appears to have remained in Trump’s favor after authorizing the use of the US Ramstein air base amid the conflict.
“Germany has been great,” Trump said. “They let us land in certain areas, and we appreciate it.”
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Sunday that Trump congratulated the country’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said Italy would respect existing agreements on the use of the bases. In a phone interview, Trump called her a “great leader” who is “always trying to help.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that Trump expects “all of our European allies, of course, to cooperate on this much-sought mission,” saying Iran “threatens our European allies as well.”
While European allies have played a key role in past military operations interventions in Afghanistan and in Iraq, the United States has already fought wars without its allies, with Western Europe notably refusing to send troops to Vietnam, although some countries provided other support.
The continent’s cautious response to the Iran war and broader threats from Trump have raised fears that a diplomatic divide could escalate into a new trade confrontation, but one expert played down the rift between the transatlantic partners.
“We should not believe that European governments are not really supporting the United States in Iran,” said Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics.
“We shouldn’t really focus on the rhetoric of European leaders,” he added. “We should focus on their actions and their deployment of naval and air power to provide further direct or indirect support to the US-Israeli war in Iran. »
Kaja Kallas, head of foreign policy of the European Union said Friday that Washington’s foreign policy shift had “rocked the transatlantic relationship to its foundations” but appeared to align the bloc with the United States, accusing Iran of being “a war exporter.”
She told reporters at a news conference that Iran was trying to “sow chaos” in the region and that she saw a chance for the Iranian people to “determine their own future.”
Despite Europe’s disagreements with Trump, “despite his bullying, despite his humiliation of Europe, most European leaders still feel dependent on the American strategic umbrella,” Gerges added.
The Spanish Prime Minister is “the only one who stood up,” he said.
Even if responses to American demands differ, Europe remains unified on the need to defend the continent against any Iranian threat.
Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands deployed naval and air assets to European Union member Cyprus after an Iranian-made drone struck a British base in the country on Monday.
Spain has sent its most advanced warship to the eastern Mediterranean, signaling its continued commitment to European defense cooperation despite Trump’s refusal to help.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that one of its two aircraft carriers had been placed on advanced readiness, suggesting it could be deployed to the Mediterranean.
“It’s okay, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need it anymore,” Trump replied on Truth Social. “We don’t need people joining wars after they’ve already won!”
But the United States’ various requests for European support appear to demonstrate a certain desire to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with Europe, which has sometimes seemed uncertain since Trump’s return to power.
“I think Trump realized that Europe is important,” Michael Bociurkiw, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told NBC News. The president has “reached out to many governments for support, and probably feels they are not supportive enough.”
In 2025, Bociurkiw added, European governments were coming to Washington “with bent kneetrying to give Trump a leg up” as they tried to rally Washington’s support for the war in Ukraine, “but I think they realize now that they need to act more independently.”
A year ago, Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” with “no cards” to play, dramatically reducing support for Ukraine in its war with Russia while promoting a peace deal that would see the Eastern European nation concede vast swaths of territory.
But Zelensky said Wednesday that the United States is now looking to them for help. anti-drone defensesleveraging Ukraine’s years of experience in combating Iranian-designed Shahed drones deployed by Russia.
“We received a request from the United States for specific support in protection against the ‘Shaheds’ in the Middle East region,” Zelensky wrote on X. “I gave instructions to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists capable of guaranteeing the required security.”
Zelenskyy “holds a much stronger deck than he did a week ago,” Bociurkiw added.