Unsteady allies: America’s traditional partners prove less than resolute

The U.S.-Israel “special relationship” is proving to be just that as America’s long-established allies, including Britain, France, Germany and Spain, have ranged from outright opposition to reluctant support as the United States has set itself the goal of reducing the Iranian regime to “toast,” in the words of U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Perhaps the most disappointing reaction has come from the United Kingdom, given that U.S. President Donald Trump hailed it as America’s “closest ally” as recently as September.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a speech on March 1 that his country would not take part in military operations. “We believe that the best way forward for the region and for the world is a negotiated settlement,” he said.

Most discouraging for Washington was Starmer’s initial refusal to allow U.S. planes to use Britain’s strategically located Diego Garcia Island air base in the Indian Ocean.

Trump’s irritation has remained, despite Starmer reversing course on March 2, telling the House of Commons that his government had agreed to let U.S. forces use British bases for “defensive purposes.” Though he reiterated, “The U.K. has not joined U.S. offensive operations.”

“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump said of Starmer at the White House on Tuesday. “I’m not happy with the U.K.”

“It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land. It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours,” he said.

On Saturday, Feb. 28, the opening day of hostilities, Starmer, together with French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, issued a joint statement calling for “regional stability.” While condemning Iran for its “appalling violence” against its population, they distanced themselves from the U.S-Israel attack, stressing, “We did not participate in these strikes.”

They called on the U.S. and Iran to resume talks.

Macron said the war “must stop” the day it started. On Tuesday, in a televised speech, he said the decision to go to war was “outside international law.” Suggesting the situation was spiraling out of control, he said, “The war in Iran is spreading across the region and carries serious consequences for peace and security.”

Macron called on Israel to “respect Lebanon’s territory and sovereignty” after it deployed troops into Lebanon following Hezbollah’s launch of rockets and drones from Lebanese territory.

Merz of Germany took the position of a cautious ally. “Comparisons with Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are certainly only partially valid. But they do show how real the risks are in the medium term,” he said on March 1. "[However,] we are not lecturing our partners on their military strikes against Iran.”

In a meeting with Trump at the White House on March 3, he struck a more positive note, saying that “we have been supporting the United States and Israel to get rid of this terrible terrorist regime.”

Although not providing material support to defeat Iran, Merz made it clear that Germany wanted a seat at the table to develop a post-war strategy for Iran. “This is extremely important for Europe, and extremely important for Israel and its security. So, we are really looking forward to finding ways to deal with the day after,” he said.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney started strongly in favor of the U.S.-Israel attack. “Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security,” he said on Feb. 28.

Since then, his message has been diluted. On Sunday, he talked of a “diplomatic solution.” On Monday, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anita Anand, issued a statement urging all sides to protect civilians and return to talks.

On Tuesday, in a particularly mixed message, Carney said he supported U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, but “with regret,” suggesting their actions are “inconsistent with international law.”

“Canada calls for a rapid de-escalation of hostilities and is prepared to assist in achieving this goal,” he added.

Canada’s National Post labeled Carney a “waffler.”

“The answer to whether or not Canada supports the war on the Islamic Republic of Iran, a murderous regime that sponsors terrorism in the Middle East and around the world, has been needlessly complicated. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seems to have settled on somewhere between ‘Yes, but’ and ‘sort of,’ ” opined a Post editorial.

Spain has fallen furthest in terms of American expectations. Its socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has become a leading critic of the war.

In an X post on Feb. 28, he spurned the “unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order.”

Relations deteriorated from there when, on Tuesday, Trump threatened to “cut off all trade with Spain. … We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”

On March 4, the two countries contradicted each other over whether or not Spain was allowing U.S. forces to use its air bases.

After White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Spain had reversed course and would agree “to cooperate with the U.S. military,” Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Leavitt may be “the White House spokesperson, but I am Spain’s foreign minister, and I tell her that our position remains the same.”

Despite the quick work the U.S. and Israel are making of Iranian military forces, Sánchez called the war a “disaster.”

“Very often, great wars start with a chain of events spiralling out of control due to miscalculations, technical failures and unforeseen circumstances,” he said.

The half-hearted support—or frank hostility—of long-established allies has not swayed Trump from his mission. His rhetoric remains the same.

“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” Trump said in a video statement on Feb. 28 at the outset of the attack. “It will be totally—again—obliterated. We’re going to annihilate their navy.”

Addressing the press on Wednesday at the White House, Trump said. “Their missiles are being wiped out rapidly. Their launchers are being wiped out. … We will continue forward. … It’s a great display of military strength.”