I noted back in 2019 that while our European allies have some excellent warships, they refuse to invest in regularly deploying or keeping those warships at high readiness. The slothful European military response to the war in Iran further testifies to this neglect.
European nations are struggling mightily to deploy even minimal forces to defend their citizens and European Union member Cyprus from Iranian drone attacks. European powers are concerned about being entangled in a conflict of highly uncertain duration and outcome. Still, purely defensive interests demanded Europe’s more robust military response.
It hasn’t happened.
While the United Kingdom had several F-35B and Typhoon fighter jets already stationed at its base in Cyprus, its HMS Dragon air defense destroyer has not yet even departed its U.K. port. And while Prime Minister Keir Starmer has now put an aircraft carrier on notice to deploy, a signal of deepening U.K. concern at the damage Starmer’s weakness has done to the special relationship, no timeline has been provided for that carrier deployment. These delays underline the Royal Navy’s low readiness rates, a function not of absent naval professionalism but rather of systemic underinvestment. And it’s not just the Navy that has been starved of cash. After all, it took until last Thursday for the U.K. to deploy just two Wildcat helicopters and four additional Typhoon fighter jets to Cyprus.
A similar story testifies to other major European powers. Germany has openly admitted its navy and air force are unable to deploy (thanks to the defense spending neglect of former Chancellors Olaf Scholz and Angela Merkel). Italy only deployed one frigate last Friday, and the Netherlands and Spain have sent only warships already assigned to the at-sea French aircraft carrier strike group Charles De Gaulle.
That carrier group was operating in the North Sea when the Iran war broke out. Unlike its European counterparts, however, France has proven its ability to surge forces. In addition to its carrier group and two French warships already operating in the area, France was able to quickly surge additional warships from its Toulon port.
Nevertheless, the tapestry of European military responses to this crisis is defined by shoddiness. European military integration might be a prized rallying cry of French President Emmanuel Macron, but the much-vaunted European Drone Defense Initiative, which would presumably be useful against Iranian Shahed drone attacks, is not yet functional.
The Europeans cannot credibly use the excuse that they were surprised by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. Even if the Trump administration did not directly warn European allies that it was preparing to take military action, European military attaches in Washington and other liaison officers embedded at various NATO and U.S. military commands surely knew a major strike was highly likely. The U.K. has officers embedded across the U.S. military’s various commands. Its liaisons are joined at U.S. Central Command by officers from France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Insight into U.S. planning and the personal relationships between liaisons and U.S. military officers makes it utterly unfeasible for European governments to claim they didn’t know what was about to happen.
It seems clear, then, that European governments were hoping with fingers crossed that Trump would cut a diplomatic deal with Iran and thus save them from having to scrounge up a military response to protect Cyprus.
True, some European allies are belatedly (and notably only subsequent to Trump’s reelection) increasing defense spending. After deep neglect under Merkel and Scholz, Germany is now surging defense spending under Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s leadership. Germany is following in the path of its eastern neighbor, Poland. Unfortunately, Spain and Italy remain defense freeloaders, and the U.K. and France are boosting their forces only by the very minimum.
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Trump has made some profoundly unhelpful comments in relation to America’s alliances. This applies globally, from NATO to Japan. But next time a European tells you that America is a bad ally, ask them how, with their defensive response to the Iran war in mind, they think they could resist a Russian invasion?
Europe has only proven that Trump has been right to hammer it over the head about dramatically increasing defense spending. Every European power needs to follow in the footsteps of Poland (and now Germany) and throw a lot of money at their defense budgets.