Brussels has shifted into crisis mode, with emergency meetings piling up Saturday and Sunday.
As European leaders raced to respond to the rapidly escalating conflict in the Middle East on Saturday after the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran, the crisis exposed fault lines inside Europe — and across the Atlantic.
American and Israeli forces struck Iranian targets early Saturday following stalled nuclear talks with Tehran. Iran then launched retaliatory attacks across the region, prompting airspace disruptions and military alerts in multiple Persian Gulf states and raising fears of a wider Middle East conflagration.
Brussels moved quickly to strike a cautious tone. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on X that the situation was “perilous,” while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed it was “of the utmost importance” to prevent further escalation. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also urged restraint.
At the national level, however, Europe’s message was less unified. In a joint statement, France, Germany and the United Kingdom stressed they “did not participate in these strikes” by the U.S. and Israel, while condemning Iranian counterattacks and urging Tehran to seek to a “negotiated solution.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer emulated that balancing act, saying the U.K. had “played no role” in the strikes while condemning Iran’s “abhorrent” regime and saying Washington’s “primary aim” was to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Starmer added that British planes were already in the air as part of coordinated regional defense operations.
Elsewhere in Europe, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the U.S.-Israeli operation as a “unilateral military action” that risks creating a more hostile global order. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, meanwhile, took the opposite line, saying Prague “stands by our allies” and warning that Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its “support for terrorism” pose a threat to Europe.
Nordic and Eastern European leaders took a more security-focused line. Sweden’s prime minister warned of a “serious escalation” and stressed it was in Europe’s interest that Tehran “is never able to develop nuclear weapons,” while also calling for restraint and respect for international law. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Warsaw was monitoring the situation closely and preparing for “various scenarios,” adding that Polish citizens — including embassy staff in Tehran — remained secure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aligned more closely with Washington, praising U.S. decisiveness and arguing that “whenever there is American resolve, global criminals weaken” — a pointed message he said should resonate in Moscow.
Criticism from Washington
The European stance — particularly that of France, Germany and Britain — drew a blistering response from U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, underscoring the geopolitical tensions now rippling across the Atlantic.
“To say I’m disappointed in the joint statement … is an understatement,” Graham wrote on X, accusing Western Europe of having “gone pathetically soft” and urging European leaders to back efforts to confront the regime in Tehran. He told the Iranian people that Trump had “heard your cries” and that “help has arrived in large measure.”
The unusually sharp language highlights how the Middle East crisis is fast becoming a real-world stress test of transatlantic unity, even as European capitals try to balance support for Washington with calls for deescalation.
Brussels is now shifting into crisis mode. Emergency meetings are piling up across Europe and the multilateral system, with EU ambassadors in the Political and Security Committee set to gather later Saturday in Brussels, while ambassadors from the 27 EU countries will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday, officials told POLITICO.
The United Nations Security Council will meet Saturday evening with the U.K. chairing, while French President Emmanuel Macron has convened his own defense council in Paris.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called a Security College for Monday.
Amid the geopolitical shocks, European officials are bracing for a confrontation that could further strain Western unity in the days and weeks ahead.