RUTHFULLY YOURS

While the United States and Israel have carried the backbreaking burden of confronting the Iranian regime’s nuclear threat with courage and real-world action, some European leaders have once again decided to play the coward’s role — not just by refusing to stand up to Iran, but by actively enabling it.

As Israeli and American forces took awe-inspiring steps to cripple Iran’s nuclear weapons program and weaken the Islamic Republic’s regional power projection, the leaders of the EU3 — France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — have been busy smiling across negotiating tables, scheming behind closed doors to help the regime survive. At a time when moral clarity is desperately needed, these European leaders, in what appears a toxic lust for trade profits, appears to be choosing hypocrisy and appeasement.

The governments of the EU3 are now in direct negotiations with Iran; both sides are apparently pleased with how things are progressing. What is the goal of these talks? It is not peace, not justice, and certainly not about protecting the world from nuclear blackmail. No, the objective is to ensure that the snapback sanctions, the most powerful tool to constrain Iran, are not reimposed — the same UN sanctions that took years of U.S. diplomatic pressure under the Bush administration to put in place. The EU3 powers appear to be trying to let those expire — quietly, slowly, deliberately. They are not just throwing away the opportunity — they are actively working to destroy it.

On July 30, Britain, France and Germany finally threatened to trigger snapback sanctions if no progress is made by August 30. The UN and the Europeans have been claiming that the US cannot trigger the snapbacks because the U.S. “withdrew from the deal.” But notice how they never said a word about Iran’s blatant violations — uranium enrichment to 60%, ballistic missile testing, attacks on the U.S. and its allies, and sales of attack drones to Russia — all contrary to the very terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Where is the condemnation? Where is the outrage? Europe’s moral compass has been replaced by a calculator and a gas pump. All they evidently care about is money — oil deals, luxury imports, sweetheart business contracts — with the same Iranian regime that hangs dissidents, murders women in the streets, and calls for genocide against Israel and the West, including Europe.

The EU3 powers — the UK, France, and Germany — are now saying they might trigger the snapback sanctions — but only if Iran fails to “contain” its nuclear program by the end of August. That word — “contain” — is a farce. What does “contain” even mean? The Iranian regime has no functioning nuclear program left at this point; it has been severely damaged by U.S. and Israeli operations. Entire facilities have been destroyed, personnel compromised and infrastructure obliterated. So, of course Iran will say, “Yes, we’ll contain it.” Of course they will smile, stall, and agree to meaningless terms just long enough for the snapback sanctions deadline to expire.

This is classic Tehran. This is how the regime has always operated. Yet the European leaders are falling for it again — or more likely, choosing to fall for it: they want an excuse not to reimpose sanctions.

To be clear: the West has nothing to show for these negotiations, while Iran has everything to gain. Iran gets to look “reasonable,” pocket more time, avoid sanctions, and wait for the clock to run out — after which the UN sanctions vanish forever. If these snapback sanctions are allowed to expire, they are gone for good. Russia and China will never again agree to reimpose them through the UN Security Council. The European powers know this but clearly could not care less.

Why are European leaders acting as if Iran is in a position of strength? This is not diplomacy — it is delusion. It is efforts to resuscitate a regime that should politically and economically be finished.

In reality, “contain” is nothing but a sanitized rebranding of the same failed JCPOA. The idea that Iran can “contain” its program means exactly what the JCPOA allowed: a laughable “honor system” — uranium enrichment, centrifuges spinning, and a countdown until Iran nearly reached nuclear weapons breakout. This is not disarmament. This is a con. There needs to be zero enrichment, zero centrifuges and zero compromise. If the goal is nuclear nonproliferation, that is the only position that makes sense

If Iran wants to prove its intentions are peaceful, it can dismantle every element of its nuclear infrastructure — permanently. Anything less is just duplicity waiting to happen.

Allowing the snapback sanctions to expire in exchange for vague promises of “containment” would simply be giving Tehran a green light to continue its terrorism — with full international legitimacy. It would be rewarding Iran’s regime for fooling everyone. It is utterly insane to allow a regime that has never once even dreamed of honoring a nuclear agreement to rebuild its nuclear program.

Even more outrageous are recent reports that the EU3 might not only avoid triggering the snapback mechanism — they are preparing to extend the deadline. Is this some kind of game the Europeans are playing? Iran is at its absolutely weakest point in decades — with its nuclear ambitions scorched, its economy teetering, its grip on power strained: the very moment to apply maximum pressure —and instead Europe is offering it a chance to rearm? What is there to “negotiate?”

What the EU3 should be saying is clear and simple: Zero enrichment. zero centrifuges, snapback sanctions, now. Not another round of “talks.” Not another delay. The longer that goes on, the more time Iran has to prepare for a post-snapback world, where it can rebuild without consequence.

At the end of the day, this is about more than just policy. It is about the West — particularly Europe, Canada and Australia — deciding whether they will finally stand up to being overrun, or, under the hollow banner of “diplomacy,” continue enabling a conquest. The Iranian regime’s record is one of secret nuclear sites, global terrorism, drone warfare, ballistic missile development, repression of women, persecution of religious minorities, genocide rhetoric, torture of its citizens, lack of due process and open hostility to every Western value. There is no “moderate” Iranian official. There is no reformist regime waiting in the wings. With this regime, diplomacy can have an outcome of only failure and betrayal.

It gets worse. In October 2023, the UN arms embargo on Iran expired. If the EU truly believed in human rights, regional security, or protecting its own backyard, it would have blocked the move. Instead, the EU3 powers did nothing.They stood by silently, allowing Iran to legally purchase and sell advanced weapons. Then, what did Iran do with its new freedom? It began arming Russia — the very country invading Europe through Ukraine. European leaders have refused to stop Tehran from becoming a weapons dealer for the Kremlin. This is not hypocrisy. This is a serious betrayal — of Europe’s own people, and of every Ukrainian citizen fighting against Russian tanks.

Some of the European leaders’ appeasement of Iran mirrors its darkest historical horrors. The same corruptibility that led European elites to placate Adolf Hitler in the 1930s is alive and well today. At that time, the policy was “peace at any price.” Today, it is “oil, business or money at any cost.” It did not work in 1938, and it will not work now. Appeasing predators does not stop war. It invites it. It emboldens tyrants and rewards violence. Some European powers have not learned anything from their own blood-soaked history.

How did we get here in the first place? The so-called Iran nuclear deal of 2015 — the illegitimate JCPOA — was born from a toxic alliance between US President Barack Obama and a few European leaders. It was a surrender masked as diplomacy. They handed Iran billions in cash, lifted sanctions, and allowed the Iran to re-enter global markets as if it had a benign regime. In return, they got empty promises and unverifiable limits on enrichment — all while Iran kept funding Hezbollah, destabilizing Iraq, cheating by developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and crushing protests at home.

Even worse, the JCPOA baked “expiration dates” into the deal for key provisions, including the arms embargo and the snapback sanctions, ad a sunset clause – due to expire this October – for Iran’s regime to have as many nuclear weapons as could acquire. That was not a negotiation. That was a gift basket with a note that read: “Just wait a bit.” The irony? Iran openly admitted that it never negotiated on missiles, regional terrorism or human rights. Instead of responding by cutting off talks or walking away, Obama and these Europeans gave Iran even more: permanent relief, a glidepath to nukes, and billions of dollars to fund its war on the West.

This was diplomacy? No, sadly: it was delusion. It only served to set the stage for everything we are facing now. The same Europeans who gave Iran the sunset clauses are now working overtime to make sure that the regime survives long enough to rebuild its nuclear program. The three European powers did not just empower the Iranian regime — they wrote it a roadmap.

So why in the world would the EU throw it a lifeline now, when the enemy is bleeding?

Simple: because some of the European leaders are scared. Scared that Iran might retaliate, scared that oil prices might go up, scared of losing business opportunities. So they beg Iran to agree to watered-down terms on enrichment percentages just to buy a few months of calm, in the hope that, as Winston Churchill said of appeasers, the crocodile “will eat him last.”

Let us call this what it is: treachery. The top European powers helped create the problem with Iran. They enabled the regime’s rise. They funded its resurgence. And now, just when the Iranian regime is cornered, they are riding in to save it once again. For money. For a surrender masquerading as “diplomacy” — that has never worked and never will.

This is not a time for negotiation. It is a time for action. The snapback sanctions must be triggered immediately. Iran has enriched uranium far beyond the limits needed for “peaceful” nuclear energy. It has threatened and attacked neighbors, armed enemies of the West, and tortured and murdered its own people. The regime lies, manipulates, and stalls just long enough to escape consequences — and the EU3 powers are playing right into its hands.

Europe’s leaders have chosen the wrong side of history before. Do not let them drag the rest of us down with them again.

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu