«Israel stands stronger than ever», says war minister Pete Hegseth. Australia and Canada have also given their support to the military action. Not to mention the Arab countries in the Gulf region, which have been struck by Iranian missiles.
In Europe, by contrast, the response has been weak, to put it mildly, although the American general David Petraeus believes it is possible that European countries will become involved in the war against Tehran.
Hegseth laments the cowardice of «the traditional partners, who wring their hands, clutch their pearls, mumble and hesitate to use force». He is speaking about us.
Senator Lindsey Graham was even clearer: «It is pathetic. How far Western Europe has sunk. To our European allies: You have become so soft that it is pathetic, and you appear to have lost the will to fight evil, unless you have it right outside your door. It is sad.»
Graham is mistaken: we do not fight evil even when we have it right outside our door. Countries such as Spain have been «reluctant partners» even in the coalition against IS, which has filled our surroundings with corpses.
To put it as Michel Houellebecq said it from Jerusalem: «We in the West have lost the will to live, and I fear that not even a war will bring us back to life again».
And here we are in a new war.
Donald Trump is furious that the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refuses to support America with Britain’s resources («He is no Churchill», Trump said). But the United Kingdom is not alone on the old continent, especially not in Western Europe.
A few hours after the attacks on Iran began, the Spanish socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez stated on X: «We reject the unilateral military action by the United States and Israel». The Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar found it easy to accuse the Spanish government of «standing on Iran’s side». And Iran thanked Spain.
Those among us who always ask «Where is Europe?» want us to be governed by sinister and corrupt types such as Sanchez.
Rescue workers carry a victim out of a train at Atocha station in Madrid on 11 March 2004, when 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured in several terrorist attacks in the Spanish capital. Photo: Peter Dejong / AP / NTB,
Shortly after the jihadist attacks in 2004, which caused Madrid to withdraw its forces from Iraq, the socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero won the election in Spain.
CNN published documents that explained in detail al-Qaeda’s objectives in the war against the West: «We assume that the Spanish government will not be able to remain standing after two or at most three attacks. But even if it were to manage it, victory for the Socialist Party would in any case be guaranteed. They will go into the election campaign on withdrawing the Spanish troops.» After Atocha came the terrorists’ announcement: «We suspend the military operations in al-Andalus until we see the course of action of the new socialist government (which would take office a few days later, ed.), which has promised to withdraw the Spanish army from Iraq.» Romano Prodi immediately made it clear what the prevailing view was: «It is clear that the use of force is not the right answer for resolving the conflict with the terrorists.»
Emmanuel Macron is concerned about the «escalation» in Iran and asks his foreign minister to call China (which purchases Iranian oil). His concern is shared by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who has said that she is «very concerned» about the attack and has urged all parties to «show the greatest possible restraint».
It sounds like prayers from someone lying on a deathbed. Europe appears devoid of the will to exist as a geopolitical actor.
On Sunday evening the foreign ministers of the 27 EU countries held a summit that resulted in a joint declaration demanding «full respect … for the UN Charter and international humanitarian law». In practice this is empty talk. They also expressed concern that the conflict «may threaten the Middle East, Europe and other areas». Here the wheel has been reinvented.
Let us now try to imagine what Trump thinks about these Europeans who always complain about the «NATO crisis» or the White House’s lack of enthusiasm for defending Europe. Europe? Here we have the largest war in the Middle East in 20 years, and Europe is less present than a mere Arab grand duchy. As I wrote a year ago: if America abandons Europe, we are in serious trouble.
Europeans’ almost grotesque nervousness about a regime change in Iran stands in sharp contrast to the offensive attitude they adopt towards a regime change in Russia.
What accounts for this difference? That Russia does not possess the means to create civil unrest in the streets of Western Europe. The Islamic Republic does have them (Islamic terrorism killed 9,901 people in 2025 alone).
«Macron, who is comfortable with ritual condemnations of the “reactionary international” represented by the duo Trump-Netanyahu, never says a word about the Islamist international, which is openly protected by La France Insoumise», writes Ivan Rioufol. «Yet this existential threat is far more dangerous for France».
«Shots fired at a synagogue in Toronto.» These are not random newspaper headlines.
This European reluctance certainly has something to do with the fact that some countries, such as Italy, do not have much to offer, and what little they do have they should keep for themselves, since Iranian missiles can reach Italy.
But countries such as France, England and Germany have more to offer. Why do they not do so?
It has to do with something Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto recently said: not only are we not ready for such a war, we no longer even want to hear talk of war.
But that is not the worst.
It is estimated that there are 46 million Muslims in Europe, corresponding to 6 per cent of the total population. Despite countless mass demonstrations for the Palestinians in Western European cities from 2023 until today, demonstrations in support of the Iranians have been insignificant. Only a few gatherings from the Iranian diaspora. Why is that?
For the same reason that European governments are reluctant to support American and Israeli attacks on Iran: they fear that the conflict may spread to their own streets.
Here is a video that provides a perfect explanation of why we are out of the game.
It shows the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosting hundreds of Muslims at a closing ceremony for Ramadan in the historic Westminster Hall: we did not participate in the attack on Iran, so please do not hate us! Moreover, we recognise Gaza and Palestine!
Trump did not let the opportunity pass to accuse Starmer of «giving in to the bloc of Islamic voters». The Telegraph has laid the numbers on the table.
Among many representatives of the Left in Europe the hatred of Israel is so great that they are prepared to side with the bloodthirsty Iranian mullahs, particularly if they believe that it is advantageous with regard to elections.
English students honour Khamenei as «a great martyr». English mosques mourn the ayatollah.
It is not only the street protests that concern European governments, but also the prospect of terrorist attacks. A week ago the New York Times claimed that Western security services had noted «increasingly worrying signals» suggesting that Iran may order the carrying out of terrorist attacks in Europe.
Recent history shows that they can.
From 1985 to 1986 a series of terrorist attacks in Paris were carried out by Iranian agents, who were also responsible for attacks in Spain, including on the restaurant El Descanso in Madrid, where they killed 18 people.
Germany now says it outright.
Where did the terrorist who murdered the Iraqi Christian refugee Salwan Momika in Sweden flee? To Iran, of course.
Sweden has otherwise thwarted two Iranian plans to attack Saskia Pantell, Secretary-General of the country’s Zionist Federation, and Aron Verständig, the chairman of the Jewish Central Council in Sweden. The British security minister Dan Jarvis has revealed around twenty Iranian plots to attack targets in the United Kingdom. Belgian police have meanwhile increased security measures around Darya Safai, a member of parliament of Iranian origin, because of death threats. Safai has accused the Iranian regime of being behind the threats with the aim of promoting Islamist extremism in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe. Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat stationed in Vienna, was arrested while driving through Germany, accused of having planned an assassination attempt against a demonstration the Iranian opposition was to hold outside Paris. A Belgian court sentenced him and three accomplices to 20 years in prison. Assadi had travelled around Europe before he was arrested, visiting places in eleven countries, including the Islamic centre in Hamburg. German authorities closed the centre in 2024 under accusations that it was an outpost for the Iranian regime. Belgium released Assadi in 2023 in exchange for a Belgian humanitarian aid worker imprisoned by Tehran.
BBC reported last week that the number of migrants who illegally crossed the Channel between France and England in small boats in 2025 was 41,262, an increase of 13 per cent from the year before. Of these, 11 per cent were Iranians.
This is Shahid Butt:
He is a convicted terrorist who planned to attack the British consulate in Yemen and an Anglican church.
Now he is standing for election in Birmingham, in a constituency composed of 91 per cent ethnic minorities, where 70 per cent are Muslims.
He will probably win.
A convicted Islamist terrorist has a strong chance of being elected to public office in the United Kingdom.
A violent extremist who planned to destroy British lives will walk through the corridors of power in the United Kingdom.
A jihad warrior who joined terror cells to fight in Afghanistan and Bosnia will influence the laws, the culture and the heritage of the United Kingdom.
That is why we are terrified of fighting this war. Because we already have it at home.
And when it is not a banlieue or a mosque or an Iranian cell, it is a satirical magazine. French diplomacy truly hopes that Tehran has not noticed Charlie Hebdo’s front page dedicated to Khamenei.
In 1989, when Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, thousands of Muslims took to the streets in the United Kingdom and France to demand the author’s death. When Khomeini issued the fatwa against Rushdie, the Polish dissident Adam Michnik wrote: «A world in which a fanatic who rules Iran can pay murderers across the world is a world in which no one is safe.»
Exactly twenty years ago Rushdie asked the EU to break relations with Iran.
Europe instead reacted like a rabbit blinded by the light of this new Islamic extremism.
Nothing has changed. Do not let them conceal their reluctance to take part in this historical moment behind appeals to «international law», «diplomacy», «prudence» and «peace». This is nothing but fear disguised as fine words.
Exactly the same thing happened when Ratzinger «insulted Islam» in Regensburg. Italy’s then prime minister Romano Prodi responded to the question of whether he was concerned about death threats against the pope by saying that «his bodyguards will take care of that». Le Monde wrote: «The pope arouses the anger of Muslims». To the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, the arrogant semiotician Umberto Eco said: «Ratzinger is neither a great philosopher nor a great theologian, he is extremely coarse, and not even a primary school pupil would formulate himself like that. His philosophical background is extremely weak». The same Umberto Eco did not say a single word in defence of Rushdie.
This is not about Iran. It is about a novel, a pope or anything else that might compel us to stand upright instead of crawling like worms. It is about ourselves. And the fact that we are old, terrified, increasingly useless and increasingly submissive.