Trump needs to take Greenland

OPINION:

Earlier this year, the Europeans were aghast at President Trump’s persistence that the U.S. should control Greenland as a national security interest. After European leaders rebuked Mr. Trump’s request for help in countering Iran this weekend, it’s clear our “special relationship” with Britain is dead and the U.S. must go it alone in defending the West.

The U.S. is the only superpower with the fortitude, muscle and willingness to use force to safeguard our republic and provide deterrence against the tyrannical governments of Iran, China and Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer blocked Mr. Trump from using the Diego Garcia air base to carry out U.S. strikes on Iran. Worried about the international legality of the strikes, Mr. Starmer was clear Saturday that the “United Kingdom played no role” in the joint U.S. and Israeli effort that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

This, as the Iranian regime backed more than 20 potentially lethal attacks on British soil in the past year alone.

When asked directly whether Britain supported the U.S. and Israeli strikes, Defense Secretary John Healey refused to answer directly. He said Britain played no role and would do what is necessary to “prevent further escalation.”

In a joint statement after the strikes, the leaders of Germany, France and Britain pressed the Trump administration to return to the negotiating table with Tehran, reiterating their commitment to “regional stability and to the protection of civilian life.”

The joint statement was akin to asking the Trump administration to negotiate with Nazis. The Iranian regime has been the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism, having waged war on the West for the past 47 years. The mullahs in Iran held American hostages for 444 days, murdered 241 Marines in Beirut, killed 603 U.S. troops in Iraq, fired ballistic missiles at U.S. bases and had assassination plots on Mr. Trump in play on U.S. soil.

In the past year alone, Iran carried out 170 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, all while expanding its nuclear program and building long-range missiles to threaten global stability.

Iran was given time to negotiate with the Trump administration before the strikes. It refused to do so in good faith after massacring more than 30,000 of its own people in a crackdown on nationwide protests in January, crossing one of Mr. Trump’s “red lines.”

It was only after Iran started indiscriminately launching widespread civilian strikes against at least 10 Middle Eastern countries Saturday, placing European lives at risk, that Mr. Starmer agreed to allow the U.S. to use British bases to destroy Iran’s missiles.

Former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace lashed out at Mr. Starmer, accusing the “two-dimensional lawyer” of treating the Iranian conflict like a legal brief. Alex Armstrong, a British pundit at GB News, wondered on social media, “Is it going to take British troops to lose their lives before this Prime Minister gets his backside off the fence!?” and starts to help U.S. and Israeli action.

Former British Attorney General Michael Ellis said it wasn’t international law that is to blame for British inaction; it was Mr. Starmer’s “pathetic weakness.”

Meanwhile, the European Union, headed by Ursula von der Leyen, was largely quiet over the weekend. Ms. Von der Leyen pledged Saturday morning to convene a “special Security College” on Monday “for regional security and stability.”

So, rather than immediately jumping into the fight with its U.S. ally, the EU decided to plan a meeting 48 hours later. This, as four U.S. service members were killed and Iranian ballistic missiles were dropped over Israel, killing civilian families.

Then there is Spain. Spain is protected under the NATO alliance despite not meeting NATO’s defense spending targets. On Monday, it banned the U.S. from using its military bases for the attacks on Iran.

“Spanish bases are not being used for this operation, and they will not be used for anything not included in the agreement with the United States or for anything that is not in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,” said Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno, speaking to Spanish broadcaster Telecinco.

What good are “friends” like these?

Our European allies have failed to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine despite the conflict being in their backyard for the past five years, and now flinch when it comes to countering Iran.

So spare us the lecture on Greenland. The U.S. needs complete sovereignty to operate without impunity in the Western Hemisphere.

We’re the only superpower with the backbone to counter tyrannical regimes, and we’ll do so — with or without Europe.

• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.