Europe is likely to stay neutral in the Iran war and could even benefit if America fares poorly in its military campaign, analyst says
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenFan ChenPublished: 10:00pm, 7 Apr 2026US President Donald Trump’s renewed threat to take Greenland when America is bogged down in a war with Iran will only deepen the fracture with Washington’s European allies, according to analysts.Trump has repeatedly criticised Europe since returning to the White House. He has derided Nato as a “paper tiger” that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not afraid of” and last week threatened to withdraw the US from the transatlantic security alliance.Europe, meanwhile, has pushed back and kept a distance from Trump as the US-Israel war on Iran continues in its sixth week, having plunged the world into an energy crisis and leaving European countries among the hardest hit.AdvertisementAccording to Trump on Monday, his displeasure with Nato “began with” Greenland, a reference to the strategically located, resource-rich autonomous territory of Denmark.
“We want Greenland. They don’t want to give it to us. And I said, ‘bye, bye’,” he said, referring to Denmark and the Nato alliance.
After the US and Israel launched a military campaign against Iran on February 28, several leading Nato members refused to grant military base access to America for its initial air strikes on Tehran and resisted Washington’s calls to join the armed conflict.
