MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The European Union has found itself in a situation where it is forced to bear the cost of other countries’ military actions in the Middle East, Ruslan Pankratov, a member of the Expert Council of Officers of Russia, deputy chairman of the Union of Political Emigrants of Europe, and former Riga City Council member, told TASS.
"In the Middle East conflict, Europe is not an ally, but a victim, forced to pay for someone else’s war. Oil prices have already jumped 8%, and gas prices at the Dutch hub have soared 20%. More than 200 tankers are anchored off Hormuz. According to the ECB, a steady 14% rise in energy prices is reducing eurozone GDP growth and driving up inflation by at least half a percent. For the EU, this will be the third energy shock over the past four years - after COVID and the severing of relations with Russia and Russian gas," he said.
Pankratov noted that the fear of Berlin, Paris, and Brussels "to even utter the word ‘illegal’ to Washington" testifies to Europe’s final vassal mimicry. "The result, as always, is simple and extremely cruel. [US President Donald] Trump is waging a war not for America’s security, but for his reelection and oil control. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is waging a war not for Israel’s survival, but for the redivision of a region in which Arabs fight each other rather than unite against it. Europe is paying for someone else’s adventure with its own economy and the last vestiges of sovereignty. The UN is feigning activity," Pankratov added.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched a military operation against Iran. The strikes targeted major Iranian cities, including Tehran. The White House justified the attack by citing missile and nuclear threats it said were emanating from Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a large-scale retaliatory operation, striking targets inside Israel. US assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia also came under attack. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other key figures of the Islamic republic’s leadership were killed.