{"id":56841,"date":"2026-04-08T02:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/56841\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T02:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:24:07","slug":"eus-costa-condemned-trumps-iran-threats-because-of-russia-parallels-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/56841\/","title":{"rendered":"EU\u2019s Costa condemned Trump\u2019s Iran threats because of Russia parallels \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

European governments, continually wrestling with the best way to deal with an American president who often sees them as a target for ridicule<\/a> rather than as a natural ally, have pushed the EU to speak with one voice, and to ensure it holds Trump to the same standard as Russian President Vladimir Putin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is unease among most, if not all, EU countries,\u201d said one diplomat, granted anonymity to speak frankly, adding there is a need to avoid applying a \u201cdouble standard.\u201d Governments \u201cwill say you always preach stability, the rule of law, the multilateral world order, for four years we have been hearing you decry Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new round of fiery rhetoric, in which the American leader vowed action unless Tehran reopened the strategic Strait of Hormuz, drew parallels with Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the diplomats said. Moscow has constantly targeted civilian infrastructure \u2014 a tactic repeatedly condemned by Brussels.<\/p>\n

Costa, a Portuguese socialist, has strengthened relationships across the Middle East, Africa and South-East Asia since he became European Council president in 2024. He chaired a summit of the EU\u2019s 27 leaders in March to discuss the crisis. <\/p>\n

They collectively agreed on a call<\/a> for \u201cde-escalation and maximum restraint, the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and full respect of international law by all parties\u201d and \u201ca moratorium on strikes against energy and water facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costa\u2019s statement on Monday came from the \u201cclear mandate\u201d given by presidents and prime ministers at that meeting, according to a senior EU official. \u201cBut it\u2019s also him as a politician choosing his words and the timing\u201d to hammer home his conviction that \u201cinternational law applies to everyone\u201d \u2014 a position he sees as \u201cin Europe\u2019s self-interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the position reflects a growing consensus among EU member countries, a second diplomat added, there has been little discussion of what to do if the bloc\u2019s red lines are crossed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve already said this is illegal and unacceptable, and then it happens, the question is, then what?\u201d said the diplomat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European governments, continually wrestling with the best way to deal with an American president who often sees them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6366,20232,686,38,154,694,34,49,18793,55,6898,56,36,2679],"class_list":{"0":"post-56841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-antonio-costa","9":"tag-bridges","10":"tag-crisis","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-energy","13":"tag-infrastructure","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-middle-east","16":"tag-rule-of-law","17":"tag-russia","18":"tag-stability","19":"tag-ukraine","20":"tag-war","21":"tag-war-in-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116366715531359868","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}