What's behind Europe's tough stance on Iran?

Europe may give an impression of favoring diplomacy over sanctions on Iran, compared with American and Israeli approaches, but it has been early and consistent in pushing both. France in particular spearheaded robust action on Iran’s nuclear program, becoming one of the leaders of European Union sanctions in mid-2010 to ban investment and business activities with Iran, notably in the energy sector.

On Jan. 4, European powers agreed in principle to an oil embargo, expected to be implemented gradually after a Jan. 23 meeting of EU foreign ministers to work out the details.

“We don’t see sanctions as an alternative to negotiations but as part of them,” says Bruno Tertrais, of the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. “Even though there is little demonstrated hope for negotiations to resume, we haven’t given up.”

Q&A: What's with the war talk surrounding Iran?

With mounting tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, and increased invective and incidents between Tehran and the West, European states that do not want war see sanctions as a pragmatic alternative. The premise is that, with sanctions, the EU is doing everything possible to avoid a military outcome. Sanctions are also seen here as a step toward opening the issue at the UN Security Council. 

“France and the UK are concerned about unintended consequences of military action on Iran,” says Richard Whitman of Chatham House, an independent foreign-policy think tank in London. “Like many in Europe, they support every effort to delay a military answer.”

Europe’s decision to punish Iran with oil sanctions stems directly from the November report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tehran’s nuclear program, which found that Iran had continued nuclear weapons development until as recently as 2009. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. 

The report was debated in nuclear watchdog circles, since there was no clear smoking gun. Yet EU officials saw the report as showing enough evidence of Iran’s intent to build a nuclear weapon to warrant global action. That the assertions came from the conservative, plodding IAEA – and not US or Israeli intelligence leaks – added to their credibility.

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