EU concerned it has no influence over Israel – FT
Brussels is concerned that it has no control over the situation in the Middle East and cannot influence Israel’s decision whether to attack Iran, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing several EU diplomats.
Earlier this week, Iran fired hundreds of missiles at Israel in retaliation for the Jewish State’s incursion into Lebanon and the killing of the heads of Hamas and Hezbollah as well as an Iranian general who was in the country.
Israel has since vowed to retaliate in response to the attack “wherever, whenever and however” it chooses, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming that Iran made a “big mistake” and “will pay for it.”
US and EU officials have been calling on both sides of the conflict to exercise restraint, but concerns have grown that Washington and Brussels have little influence over the Israeli government.
One European diplomat told the Financial Times that Israel has been asked to stop short of attacking Iran’s oil or nuclear infrastructure but has been given no guarantees that it would meet that request.
Another senior EU diplomat also told the outlet that it is “depressing to see how little influence we have on these events” and that it “injects some pessimism, some fatalism into our discussions on it.”
On Thursday, Politico also reported, citing two unnamed White House officials, that US President Joe Biden is growing increasingly frustrated that he is unable to influence Israel’s military conduct and that his phone conversations with Netanyahu have “increasingly turned into shouting matches.”
The magazine claimed that in light of Biden’s inability to prevent a “regional war” in the Middle East, Washington has been forced to settle for “limiting Israel’s response” rather than discouraging it entirely.
According to one American diplomat who spoke to the Financial Times, US and Israeli officials are already discussing potential strikes on Iranian military targets and energy infrastructure, but Washington does not expect to participate in these strikes.
The official added that Israel is aiming to send a “strong signal to Iran” and put a lid on the conflict but noted that no final decision has been made by the Israeli government.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that if Israel decides to respond to Tuesday’s attack then Tehran’s next strikes will be “more destructive.”
