European leaders hold emergency meetings after ‘dangerous’ US attacks on Iran

Claudia Ciobanu and Sam McNeil, Associated Press

European leaders have held emergency security meetings and scrambled to protect their citizens in the Middle East after US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered global concerns of escalation into a broader conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting in response to the US and Israeli strikes, and Germany and the UK held their own emergency meetings on Saturday to discuss the situation.

The European Union is evacuating some staff from the region and European leaders are planning to co-ordinate further responses.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz issued a statement saying their countries did not take part in the strikes on Iran but are in close contact with the US, Israel and partners in the region.

The three countries have led efforts to reach a negotiated solution over Iran’s nuclear programme.

“We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes. We call for a resumption of negotiations and urge the Iranian leadership to seek a negotiated solution. Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future,” they said.

The strikes by the US create a dilemma for its democratic allies. While European leaders oppose Iran’s nuclear programme and crackdowns by its hard-line theocracy, they are reluctant to embrace unilateral military action by Donald Trump that could breach international law and unleash a broader conflict.

The US president’s strikes on Iran last June, and the arrest of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro last month, caused a similar quandary.

It is unclear whether US allies were given advance warning of the attacks. The German government said it was only given notice on Saturday morning, and France’s junior defence minister said Paris knew something would happen, but did not know when.

“The escalation under way is dangerous for everyone. It must stop,″ Mr Macron said in a statement. France, which has military presence in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, will offer military aid to its partners in the Middle East, the president said.

“The outbreak of war among the United States, Israel and Iran has serious consequences for peace and international security,″ Mr Macron said.

Negotiations

He called on Iran’s leadership to commit to negotiations on its nuclear and ballistic programmes.

“The Iranian people should also be able to build their future freely. The massacres perpetrated by the Islamic regime disqualify it, and necessitate that the people be given a voice.”

The European Union’s top diplomat called the conflict “perilous” and said she was working with Israeli and Arab officials to pursue a negotiated peace.

“Iran’s regime has killed thousands. Its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, along with support for terror groups, pose a serious threat to global security,” said Kaja Kallas, foreign policy chief of the 27-nation bloc.

Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that he was concerned the failure of negotiations between the US and Iran would mean a “new, extensive war in the Middle East”.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Madrid rejected “the unilateral military action by the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order”. He said Spain “likewise” rejected the actions of the Iranian regime.

Restraint

European Union leaders issued a joint statement on Saturday calling for restraint and engaging in regional diplomacy in hopes of “ensuring nuclear safety”.

“We call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, to protect civilians, and to fully respect international law,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in harsher words.

“These attacks are totally irresponsible and risk provoking further escalation as well as increasing the danger of nuclear proliferation and the use of nuclear weapons,” said its executive director, Melissa Parke.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim warned that the escalating conflict has pushed the Middle East to the “edge of catastrophe”.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar condemned the “unwarranted attacks” on Iran during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the strikes “a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state”, demanding an immediate halt to the military campaign and a return to diplomacy.

The ministry accused Washington and Tel Aviv of “hiding behind” concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme while pursuing regime change.

‘Accomplice’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky voiced support for the US-led strikes, calling the country “an accomplice of Putin” for supplying drones and the technology for Moscow to produce them and other weapons in its four-year war against Ukraine.

“Over the course of this full-scale war, Russia has used more than 57,000 Shahed-type attack drones against the Ukrainian people, cities and energy infrastructure,” he said.

“Other nations have also suffered from Iranian-backed terror. Therefore, it is fair to give the Iranian people a chance to rid themselves of a terrorist regime and to guarantee security for all nations that have suffered from terror originating in Iran.”