euobserver EU and the World -- None of Trump’s EU friends welcomed Iran war -- By Andrew Rettman,-- Brussels, 1 March 2026 16:20

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EU and the World

None of Trump’s EU friends welcomed Iran war

By Andrew Rettman, Brussels, 1 March 2026 16:20

Nobody in the EU immediately backed the US attack on Iran, which killed its supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei, except fringe populist fans of US president Donald Trump.

Not even Trump’s closest EU friends – Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán or Slovak prime minister Robert Fico – voiced support on Saturday (28 February), amid fears of spiralling escalation in the Middle East.

Orbán said only that the new Iran war justified his veto on EU funding to Ukraine, as the oil-market shock it caused meant he needed Russian oil via a disputed pipeline.

Fico said: “It was natural to expect that retaliatory actions from Iran would follow the attack on Iran”.

Populist Polish prime minister Karol Nawrocki bragged on X that his close ties to Trump meant he had been forewarned of the Iran strike.

Czech populist prime minister Andrej Babiš stayed quiet on the US attack, but said: “I completely condemn the Iranian [retaliation] attacks on [US-aligned] Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan”.

Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni, who has sought Trump’s favour, said nothing, while her foreign minister, Guido Crosetto, voiced concern on the need to “avoid the spiralling conflict in the Middle East”.

The heads of the up-and-coming, far-right National Rally party in France and AfD party in Germany, which Trump has courted, also said nothing, in contrast to the Dutch far-right PVV party chief Geert Wilders, who stood out as Trump’s only unequivocal EU champion.

“The Dutch PM [Rob] Jetten is a total weakling demanding restraint. Ignore him, go after the ayatollah’s [sic] and free Iran!” said Wilders on X.

But his (and Nawrocki’s) glee aside, even staunchly Atlanticist EU states like Poland, the Baltics, Bulgaria, and Romania, which depend on US protection from Russia, either stayed silent or rather echoed Jetten’s call.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said he was preparing for “various scenarios”, while Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna came close to criticising Trump, saying Estonia sought: “De-escalation, a return to diplomatic efforts and compliance with international law”.

In the EU core, French president Emmanuel Macron called for a UN Security Council meeting, while German chancellor Friedrich Merz abstained from direct comment.

“The current escalation is dangerous for everyone. It must stop,” said Macron, while also recalling Iran’s “massacres” of civilian protesters in January.

Merz was “monitoring the development closely and is in close coordination with European partners,” his office said, ahead of the chancellor’s meeting with Trump in Washington next week.

Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prevot said: “We deeply regret that diplomatic efforts could not lead earlier to a negotiated solution”.

Nordic countries and Ireland, which historically champion law in international relations, were more critical.

“Usually, justification for these types of attacks has been sought either from the UN or at least from allies. Now, there has not been much asked about this,” said Finnish prime minister Petri Orpo.

The foreign minister of non-EU, but fellow Nato member Norway, Barth Eide, said: “The [US] attack is described by Israel as a pre-emptive strike, but it is not in accordance with international law. A pre-emptive attack would require the existence of an imminent threat”.

Irish foreign minister Helen McEntee said: “I am deeply concerned that the US and Israel have decided to launch widespread armed conflict against Iran at this time”.

Out of the EU’s smaller Mediterranean Sea-region states, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, and Malta voiced mostly consular security concerns, while keeping out of geopolitics.

“We are monitoring the situation very closely. We hope that the conditions for de-escalation will soon be created,” said Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides, whose country holds the symbolic EU presidency.

“The Greek government is monitoring developments in Iran and the wider region of the Middle East closely and with concern,” said the Greek foreign ministry.

Former Greek PM Aléxis Tsipras (l) met with Iranian leader Khamenei in 2016 (Photo: Greek PM office)

Spain calls out Trump

But for his part, left-wing Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez let rip against Trump.

“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” said Sánchez on X.

He condemned the Iranian government, but also called for “immediate de-escalation” and “full respect for international law.”

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council chairman António Costa, as well as EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas, issued mildly anti-war remarks.

Von der Leyen and Costa said it was crucial to stop “any actions that could further escalate tensions”.

Kallas was “coordinating closely with Arab partners to explore diplomatic paths” out of a regional conflagration.

“I will convene an extraordinary foreign affairs council via video link on Sunday to address Iran and the rapidly unfolding events,” she said.