The European state that is currently most involved in the war of the USA and Israel against Iran is Great Britain. While Prime Minister Keir Starmer had stated at the beginning of the war that US military aircraft should not use British air bases for attacks on Iran, he has now released them. Officially, this has been done with the grotesque restriction that only pretensed defensive actions, such as the destruction of Iranian missile positions, are allowed. What is supposed to be defensive about bombing positions in a foreign state is just as not clear as the question of how Starmer wants to control US flights from British bases.[ 1] In addition, British fighter jets intercept Iranian drones and missiles to the best of their ability, thus keeping the US and Israel's backs free for their attack flights. On Saturday, London sent four additional fighter jets to Qatar.[ 2] Tomorrow, Tuesday, a destroyer of the British Navy specialized in air defense is to leave for Cyprus. Announced, but not yet formally decided, is the rapid dispatch of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. 3] At the end of last week, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said that British attacks on Iran's missile positions could not be ruled out in the future.[ 4]
France is also developing increasing activities in support of the USA and Israel in the war against Iran. Paris has allowed the United States to use the air base at Istres northwest of Marseille for stopovers on the way to the Middle East war zone - especially, but not only for the tankers stationed at the Spanish military base Rota near Cádiz. Spain has banned the use of Rota for the Iran war. France allows the use of Istres with the equally grotesque argument that tanker planes would only refuel, not bomb.[ 5] French Rafale jets are also participating in efforts to intercept Iranian drones and missiles. In addition, a French frigate and French anti-aircraft systems are on their way to Cyprus. In addition, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which has just participated in a NATO maneuver in the Baltic Sea, is back in the Mediterranean. A frigate from the Netherlands and another frigate from Spain are to be integrated into his escort group. France is also seeking to strengthen the EU naval operation of Aspides in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman. Only recently, the Chief of Staff of the French Navy, Nicolas Vaujour, warned that France's naval forces were reaching the limits of their capacity. 6]
The German government supports the conduct of war above all by allowing the use of military bases in Germany and German airspace for US Air Force flights to the Middle Eastern war zone. This is illegal in view of the fact that the Iran war is a war of aggression of the United States and Israel that violates international law; so states the legal expert Andreas Schüller of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR): "Germany must not make its territory available for acts contrary to international law."[ 7] Currently, the German frigate North Rhine-Westphalia is located in front of Cyprus. She is on the road in the eastern Mediterranean as part of the UN operation UNIFIL. However, it is not very suitable for the war situation in the region: The F125 frigate type - the most modern available to the German Navy - is optimized for scenarios such as the fight against pirates or smugglers and is not suitable for risky anti-aircraft operations. 8] According to reports, the Bundeswehr is currently even deporting soldiers stationed in Iraq to train the armed forces there to Jordan.[ 9] Only the CDU military politician Roderich Kiesewetter insists on using German tanker planes to support Israeli fighter jets. 10]
Cautious opposition to the war of the USA and Israel comes for the first time from Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Merz reiterated in a statement on Friday that he "continues to "share" all the goals that the USA and Israel pursue with the comprehensive destruction of Iran; he does not raise objections to the war of aggression that violates international law, so he carries the total de facto rejection of international law, which US President Donald Trump has presented in a kind of "Trump doctrine" ("I do not need international law, it only counts my own morality" [11]). On these he bases the US war against Iran as well as the current wars in Latin America - "anti-drug" wars, the youngest of them in Ecuador. But Merz has declared that "an endless war" is "not in our interest". 12] The background is, on the one hand, that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has almost come to a standstill; Iran has forced it – as announced long before the attack of the USA and Israel – by attacking ships that wanted to cross the Strait. This means that a good 20 percent of the world's liquefied gas, large quantities of oil and other raw materials are withdrawn from the world market in one fell swoop. On the Arabian Peninsula, among other things, ten percent of the aluminum worldwide was recently produced. 13]
If this threatens dramatic price increases in oil, gas and aluminum, among others, and also serious supply problems for German industry, the further plans of the USA and Israel for the future of Iran fear a large number of Iranians to flee to Europe. Shortly after the attack on Iran, it became known that the CIA had armed Iranian-Kurdish militias preparing to take Iran's Kurdish-speaking areas from the control of Tehran in northern Kurdish Iraq. Observers doubt that they can succeed in this in the long term.[ 14] But it is unanimously said that an uprising of the Kurdish-speaking population could ignite uprisings of other minorities and drive the Arab minority of Chuzestan directly on the border with Iraq and the minority of the Sutsch in Iran's southeast on the border with Pakistan into open revolts. The result would be a bloody civil war in Iran, which could drive significant parts of the population out of the country. Trump incited the Iranian-Kurdish militias a few days ago to strike out against Tehran. Although he withdrew this over the weekend, it is unclear how the militias are proceeding now. Of course, it is known that Washington has regularly used Kurdish militias since the 1990s and then dropped them again - most recently in Syria.
Merz now declares: "Iran must not become the scene of proxy wars." The Iranian state must "remain functional"; "public order and basic services" must absolutely be "maintained". Merz demands: "The Iranian economy must not collapse". The reason is that "uncontrolled migration movements ... must be prevented". 15] That the USA and Israel are impressed by him can be considered unlikely. However, central allies of the USA on the Arabian Peninsula and South Asia are brewing considerable discontent about the actions of the Trump administration; it seems possible that Merz will benefit from this with the cautious criticism of Washington. german-foreign-policy.com reports shortly.
[1] Sammy Gecsoyler, Nadeem Badshah: Four US bombers land at RAF base in UK after warning of surge in strikes on Iran. theguardian.com 07.03.2026.
[2] RAF Typhoons Deploy to Qatar. raf.mod.uk 07.03.2026.
[3] Hugo Daniel, Dominic Hauschild, Gabriel Pogrund: Keir Starmer's Iran help too late, says Trump as Tony Blair joins criticism.
[4] Athena Stavrou, Kate Devlin: David Lammy sparks chaos after suggesting British jets could legally strike Iran's missile bases.
[5], [6] Michaela Wiegel: Macron sends aircraft carrier. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 07.03.2026.
[7] Raphael Schmeller: Iran war: How endangered is Germany because of the US Airbase Ramstein? berliner-zeitung.de 08.03.2026.
[8] Peter Carstens: Why the government does not want a Bundeswehr deployment. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 07.03.2026.
[9] Media report: Germany withdraws soldiers and embassy personnel from Iraq. stern.de 06.03.2026.
[10] Peter Carstens: Why the government does not want a Bundeswehr deployment. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 07.03.2026.
[11] David E. Sanger, Tyler Pager, Katie Rogers, Zolan Kanno-Youngs: Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by 'My Own Morality'. nytimes.com 08.01.2026. S. The Samoker and his buddy.
[12] Chancellor Friedrich Merz explains the crisis in the Middle East. bundesregierung.de 06.03.2026.
[13] Leslie Hook, Camilla Hodgson, Rachel Millard: Iran war triggers aluminum supply crunch and shutdowns across the Middle East.
[14] Friederike Böge: America relies on the Kurds in Iran. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 05.03.2026.
[15] Chancellor Friedrich Merz declares the crisis in the Middle East. bundesregierung.de 06.03.2026.