ROME, March 23. /TASS/. The US and Israeli operation against Iran has further alienated European allies from Washington, the Adnkronos agency reported.
The Middle East conflict has dragged on. In Europe, the US strategy, which has already caused enormous economic damage, is considered at the very least too risky. None of the Europeans wanted to join the US-Israeli operation, even to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Some countries openly rejected Washington for the first time, the agency notes. Amid diverging views over the situation in Ukraine, the gap [between the US and Europeans] is growing wider, the agency concludes.
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key Iranian leaders were killed in the joint US-Israeli attack.