Why Europe Is Weak on Iran

“It can be argued that the European failure to stand with the United States in maintaining sanctions on the Islamic regime is a symptom of their prolonged appeasement policy, which is masqueraded as diplomatic engagement.”

It has become an all but unchallenged assertion by many media analysts to attribute the reluctance of European countries to support the Trump administration’s resolute determination to maintain sanctions on Iran to President Donald Trump’s alleged alienation of European allies. However, what has been either intentionally or inadvertently overlooked by these analysts is the ingrained inclination of European powers to placate and appease the clerical regime in Iran. And this has been the case since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, which catapulted the clerics to political power. This controversial appeasement policy by European powers is reflected in their incessant attempts to condone the Islamic regime’s pursuit of destabilizing terrorist activities, even on European soil. This appeasement was further legitimized by the Obama administration’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which was not only ineffective in achieving its objectives but also provided cover for Iran to intensify its subversive activities in the region. It can be argued that the European failure to stand with the United States in maintaining sanctions on the Islamic regime is a symptom of their prolonged appeasement policy, which is masqueraded as diplomatic engagement.

The lack of support by Russia and China in the United Nations Security Council for the continuation of sanctions on Iran is not surprising. Both Russia and China have little respect for human rights, and both are geopolitical rivals of the United States. However, the position taken by France, the United Kingdom, and Germany (nations that have presented themselves as the vanguards of human rights) is shocking and needs to be dissected. As mentioned, it has become common for anti-Trump pundits to impute the European powers’ lack of support for maintaining sanctions to President Trump’s general foreign policy, which has questioned certain previous relationships between the United States and Europe. As such, President Trump’s “America First” strategy, his passionate effort to prioritize the United States’ interests, and his incessant calls on European countries to shoulder their fair share of contributions to the cost of maintaining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have set in motion a chorus of criticisms and indignation from European allies.

Despite Iran’s numerous declarations that it would no longer be bound by the 2015 nuclear agreement’s restriction on centrifugal and uranium enrichment, European nations have sedulously been striving to stick to an already-dead nuclear deal, which has so far been ineffective in curbing the Islamic regime’s nuclear ambition. However, the ambivalence and controversial stance of European powers on the United States’ formal request of members of the United Nations Security Council to extend indefinitely arms embargoes on Iran cannot be explained by broadly maligning the Trump administration’s foreign policy orientation. In fact, European leaders have privately divulged their concerns regarding the destabilizing and insidious activities of the Islamic regime of Iran and have concurred with American action against Iran. However, they have eschewed enunciating their concerns publicly, which, in the words of United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is tantamount to a “failure of leadership.”