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Historian Among Those Warning Countries That Have Aided Trump's Iran Assault 'Will Come to Regret It'
"One of the biggest implications of this war is how badly Europe miscalculated," said one analyst.
Apr 07, 2026
As President Donald Trump made his most explicitly genocidal threat yet against Iran on Tuesday, one historian based in Tehran suggested that countries which have aided and abetted the rapidly intensifying US-Israeli assault on the Middle Eastern country are coming face-to-face with the fact that appeasing Trump has been a grave error.
Trump's threat that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again"—referring to Iran's population of 93 million people—was the "textbook definition of genocide," said Narjes Rahmati. "Those who could have intervened but did not will come to regret it."
Trump has lashed out at numerous European countries for being insufficiently supportive of the US-Israeli war, which has killed more than 2,000 people in Iran, nearly 1,500 in Lebanon, and hundreds across the Middle East, but countries including the United Kingdom have provided various support to the US and Israel since they abruptly cut off diplomatic talks and began bombing the country in February.
While UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has attempted to distance his government from the conflict, saying, "This is not our war," the UK has allowed US bombers to use British military bases for "defensive" missions. Late last month the UK also authorized the US to use military bases for strikes against Iranian missile sites that were targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The country has ramped up its military resources in the region in recent weeks.
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats Party in the UK, said Tuesday that Starmer and his Labour government face "a choice" about continuing to back the US and Israel in light of Trump's latest threat on what the president previously referred to as "Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day."
"The UK must immediately and unequivocally suspend support for the US military," added Zack Polanski, the British Green Party leader. "The government have tried to appease him, then they tried to say they're standing up to him. Words aren't enough—it's time for action."
Philippe Dam, European Union director for Human Rights Watch, also condemned the European Commission for its tepid response to Trump's threat against "a whole civilization."
Anitta Hipper, foreign affairs spokesperson for the commission, said it rejects threats to attack critical civilian infrastructure, warning that "such attacks risk impacting millions of people across the Middle East and beyond, and also may lead to further dangerous escalation."
Dam warned that "international law is eroded by those who flout it as much as by those who fail to speak up."
"Despite renewed threats of attacks on civilian infrastructures in Iran—would be war crimes and possible crimes against humanity—EU leaders still fail to name USA and Israel in their statements," said Dam.
The US has also received varying degrees of military support from Portugal, Italy, Germany, and France, though the French and Italian governments have angered Trump in recent weeks by blocking the US from using certain military bases and barring military flights from French airspace. Spanish President Pedro Sánchez has stood out among North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders, leading the way in refusing to allow the US to use its bases for Iran attacks.
Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, said European leaders over the last several weeks "had [a] real chance to help make diplomacy succeed. Instead, they aligned with and enabled Trump’s worst instincts."
Adil Haque, a Rutgers University law professor and executive editor of Just Security, called on "all states" to "immediately condemn Trump's threat; deny the use of their territory and airspace by US forces to attack Iran; demand an immediate, unconditional, and permanent end to the war."
"Hormuz can be dealt with separately," he said, referring to Iran's closure of the strait, a key trade waterway. "Enough is enough."
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Will Trump's Idiotic Iran War Spell the End of NATO?
Trump launched the US attack on Iran without any consultation at all with NATO allies, and on the basis of incoherent and transparently false justifications. With real geopolitical and economic impacts, who would want to be in an alliance with a nation that does this?
Apr 02, 2026
In the view of General de Gaulle, “Treaties are like young girls and roses; they last while they last.” By that standard, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization seems to be wilting pretty fast. The Israeli-US war on Iran has opened up (or revealed) divisions that may prove fatal.
This week, in the first call of its kind from the European right, Tino Chrupalla, federal spokesman of Germany’s Alternative For Germany (AFD) party, declared, “Let’s begin to put into practice what our party manifesto says: the withdrawal of all US troops from Germany.” He said that Germany cannot call itself a truly sovereign country while it hosts foreign bases over which it has no real control.
Chrupalla praised the Spanish government’s action in closing US bases and Spanish airspace to participation in the Iran War: “Ships under the Spanish flag are allowed to pass the Strait [of Hormuz]. Why are the Spaniards allowed to cross? Because Spain has closed its bases for the Iran war. And that is totally right.”
This is an obvious riposte to President Trump’s latest remark that “countries like the United Kingdom”, that refused to get involved in the Iran War” should “Go get your own oil.” Iran has in fact allowed ships with oil destined for neutral countries to pass the Strait of Hormuz.
Understandably however, Tehran does not consider European countries that host bases from which the US is attacking Iran to be truly “neutral.” If the war continues and energy shortages in Europe worsen, calls for other European countries to follow Spain are bound to intensify. The fate of the Gulf Arab states in this war has underlined the risks of hosting foreign military forces that you do not control.
The longer the Iran war goes on, the greater will be the pressure in Europe to cut a deal with Iran — especially if European establishments have come to believe that the NATO guarantee of US military protection no longer holds.
France and Italy are indeed beginning to head in this direction. Italy has denied permission for US planes headed to the war to refuel in Italy. France has closed its airspace to US flights linked to the war. Trump’s response has been predictably furious, posting that “The US will remember” France’s lack of help, and warning Britain and France that, “You’ll have to learn how to fight for yourself, the USA won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us.”
This is despite the fact that Britain has allowed the US to use its bases for strikes on Iran — officially, only ones “defending” the Strait of Hormuz, but who is checking?
In a more measured but therefore perhaps even more menacing way, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, “If NATO is just about us defending Europe if they’re attacked but then denying us basing rights when we need them, that’s not a very good arrangement. That’s a hard one to stay engaged in and say this is good for the United States. So all of that is going to have to be reexamined.”
NATO has of course been through crises before. President Eisenhower brought the Anglo-French seizure of Suez in 1956 to an end through economic pressure. President Johnson was furious with the British refusal to send troops to Vietnam. The US strongly opposed the creation of the network of gas pipelines from Siberia to Europe in the 1970s. France and Germany attracted great anger from the Bush administration by refusing to take part in the attack on Iraq in 2003.
This crisis does however look significantly worse. Apart from Suez (where it was the US that brought the war to an end) none of these cases touched on the vital interests of Europe or the US On the US side, Washington was well aware that European participation in the wars in Vietnam and Iraq would in any case have been almost entirely symbolic. By contrast, a united European move to close airspace to US flights would critically undermine the US campaign against Iran.
On the European side, none of the previous clashes with the US had direct and obvious consequences for European economies and political systems. The Iran War risks creating an economic depression leading in turn to increased radicalization and polarization in Europe.
Finally, in the case of the Iraq War there was at least a facade of consultation and reasoned justification by the Bush administration. The Trump administration launched the attack on Iran without any consultation at all with NATO allies, and on the basis of justifications that are both incoherent and transparently false.
In their refusal to participate in the Iran War, West European governments have solid support from their own populations, where large majorities in every country oppose the Israeli-US campaign. European public opposition to the war has been greatly increased by Trump’s deep personal unpopularity in Europe, and his crude insults against European countries. This has been a key factor in shifting right-wing populist movements like AfD into distance from or opposition to the war.
As self-styled patriotic movements, they cannot be seen to be siding with attacks on their nations. In the case of Britain, the most instinctively pro-US of all the NATO countries, Trump caused outrage by his insults to the British armed forces, and forced even the opposition parties to come to the defense of Prime Minister Keir Starmer when Trump insulted him personally. Almost 60% of British respondents to a poll oppose the US using British bases for the war.
In the background to these European responses also lies the growing unpopularity of Israel in European populations, and especially in the younger generation. Even before the attack on Iran, Israeli atrocities in Gaza had led 63-70% percent of European respondents to take an unfavorable view of Israel. Significantly for the future of European policy, these figures are considerably higher in the younger generation.
One massive barrier to European distancing from Washington has been the Ukraine War, European fears of an attack by Russia, and consequent desire for continued US military support. However, as both Russian interests and the grindingly slow and appallingly costly progress of the Russian ground war against Ukraine both indicate, this alleged Russian threat is both completely hypothetical and grossly exaggerated; whereas the threat of the Iran War to European economies is all too real and imminent.
The longer the Iran war goes on, the greater will be the pressure in Europe to cut a deal with Iran — especially if European establishments have come to believe that the NATO guarantee of US military protection no longer holds.
Lastly, there is the question of what Trump does after the Iran War. It has been suggested — let us hope wrongly — that one way in which he could distract attention from failure in Iran, and gain some compensation for it, might be by seizing Greenland. This would end NATO, for no alliance can survive an open attack by its leading member on another one; and after all, Russia has not claimed a single inch of NATO territory.
If the US no longer defends and instead attacks Europe, and Europe no longer acts as an airstrip for US force projection elsewhere in the world, then the basic rationales for NATO’s existence will have vanished.
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As Trump Threatens NATO Exit, Starmer to Host 35-Nation Talks on Strait of Hormuz—Without US
"The unspoken implication of the focus on diplomacy is that if Trump walks away without reopening the strait and without a deal with Iran, then Tehran holds the cards," said one observer.
Apr 01, 2026
As President Donald Trump lambasts European allies over their reluctance to be dragged into his illegal war of choice against Iran and reportedly mulls leaving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Wednesday that Britain will host talks involving 35 nations—but not the US—on reopening the Strait of Hormuz via diplomacy.
Starmer said the talks, a continuation of UK-French efforts to secure safe passage for ships in the key waterway—through which around a quarter of the world's oil transits—would bring together nations to "assess all viable diplomatic and political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and to resume the movement of vital commodities."
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed to “enemies of this nation” and that the waterway is "firmly and dominantly" under its control, despite Trump's repeated claims that an end to the war is approaching.
Trump lashed out Tuesday at European leaders amid resistance tof the US-Israeli war on Iran, telling them to "go get your own oil" and calling them "cowards" who will "have to start learning how to fight" for themselves, because the US "won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us."
Trump's tirade came amid reports that France, Italy, and Spain have either banned US warplanes from their airspace or from using bases in their countries. Spain announced Monday that its airspace is off limits to US aircraft involved in the Iran war, which socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and other officials in Madrid have condemned as illegal.
Italy also contends that the war on Iran is illegal and has denied US warplanes permission to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily before heading to the Middle East, while France on Wednesday refuted claims by Trump that it is preventing US military planes from flying over its territory.
The Telegraph reported Wednesday that Trump is seriously considering withdrawing from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the alliance formed in 1949 to counter growing Soviet power in Europe, telling the British newspaper that NATO is "a paper tiger."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also weighed in on the matter, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity Tuesday evening that "we’re going to have to reexamine the value of NATO."
“If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means that we can’t use those bases, that in fact we can no longer use those bases to defend America’s interests, then NATO is a one-way street,” he added.
It is unclear how Trump would attempt to quit the alliance, a move that would require the unlikely approval of Congress. In 2023, lawmakers passed legislation requiring their permission to leave NATO—a direct response to Trump's previous threats to do so.
Responding to Trump's NATO remarks, Starmer said during a Wednesday press conference that the UK remains "fully committed" to the pact.
“NATO is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen," the Labour leader asserted. “It has kept us safe for many decades."
"Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I'm going to act in the British national interest," Starmer continued. "And that's why I have been absolutely clear that this is not our war, and we're not going to get dragged into it. But I'm equally clear that when it comes to defense and security, and our economic future, we have to have closer ties with Europe."
Some critics have pushed back against Starmer's argument that it's not Britain's war, noting that his government is allowing US forces to use bases in the UK to launch attacks on Iran.
Leftist and anti-war critics have long argued that NATO—which was formed to counter a Soviet threat that ceased to exist 35 years ago—is unnecessary and helped provoke Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. Proponents of the alliance say it is key to the unprecedented peace and prosperity enjoyed by most Europeans during the post-World War II era.
Responding to Starmer's remarks, UK Green Party leader Zack Polanski urged the prime minister to "show leadership" by ending all involvement in the Iran War and stopping the upcoming state visit to the United States by King Charles III, whose family, like the British state in general, has enriched itself through centuries of imperialism, slavery, and war.
“Starmer must end this involvement in Iran and stop the King's visit to the USA.”@zackpolanski.bsky.social calls on Starmer to show leadership - stop UK involvement in illegal wars, refuse concessions to Trump, and oppose normalising fascism through inappropriate state visits.
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— The Green Party of England & Wales (@greenparty.org.uk) April 1, 2026 at 7:00 AM
The NATO alliance has been tested before. France, Italy, and Spain denied US warplanes overflight privileges during then-President Ronald Reagan's 1986 bombing of Libya, and in 2003 a much deeper rift emerged over then-President George W. Bush's unprovoked US regime change war in Iraq. Some US allies—including the UK, Italy, and Spain—took part in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, while others, led by France, vehemently opposed the illegal war of choice.
Starmer's signaling of closer ties to Europe comes a decade after Britons voted to leave the European Union. There is considerable regret over the so-called Brexit, with more than 6 in 10 respondents to a September 2025 Best for Britain survey saying it was a mistake to leave the EU and just 11% calling the move a success.
The transatlantic tensions come as Trump claimed Wednesday on his Truth Social network that Iran "has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!"
Echoing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's repeated assertion that the US is "negotiating with bombs," Trump added: "We will consider [a ceasefire] when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!"
Nearly 2,000 Iranians have been killed over 33 days of US and Israeli bombing, according to officials there. On Friday, a coalition of human rights groups said that nearly 1,500 civilians, including 217 children, have been killed—many of them in the February 28 US cruise missile massacre at a girls' school in Minab that killed around 175 people.
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