EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas warned EU leaders about the risks of the bloc joining a war against Iran. She stressed that getting pulled into a Middle East conflict can feel easy at first but become extremely hard to exit.
Politico reported her comments, citing two diplomats who attended a closed European Council summit in Brussels.
Details
Kallas urged EU countries to stay out of what she called a “never‑ending war” led by the United States and Israel. She compared the start of a war to a love affair:
“Easy to enter, hard to exit.”
At the same time, she emphasized the need to protect EU interests in the region. But she said EU governments currently are not ready to expand the mandate of the naval mission Aspides, operating in the Red Sea, into the Strait of Hormuz.
Her warning comes amid calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for allies to help provide military escort to civilian vessels navigating waters that Iran has effectively blocked.
Context
Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has driven up global oil and gas prices and hit the interests of major exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Recently, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan said they stand ready to help secure safe passage through the strait, though they have not disclosed details of their involvement.
Earlier, The Ukrainian Review reported that in the run‑up to the U.S.–Israeli attack on Iran, Trump and his advisers underestimated the risks to energy markets. They treated potential closure of Hormuz and disruption of commercial shipping as short‑term issues that should not interfere with the military mission.
