EU leaders balk at joining Middle East fight, grapple with high energy prices

European leaders on Thursday doubled down on refusing to join the US–Israel military campaign in the Middle East as they met in Brussels to grapple with rising oil and gas prices caused by the conflict.

European leaders have deflected entreaties from US President Donald Trump to send military assets to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the global flow of oil, gas and fertilizer. However, rising energy prices because of the war and fears in Europe of a new refugee crisis have pushed leaders to make the Middle East a priority at the summit.

"We are very worried about the energy crisis," said Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever ahead of the summit. He said that energy prices were too high before the war, but that the conflict "created another spike."

"If that becomes structural, we're in deep trouble," he said.

The summit was initially expected to focus on overcoming Hungary's opposition to a massive loan to Ukraine, but the conflicts in Iran and Lebanon shifted the agenda.

European leaders have been deeply critical of the Iranian government, but none have offered immediate help to the US. Britain has flat-out refused to be drawn into the war. Meanwhile, France says the fighting would have to die down first.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said that Europe "will not allow itself to be blackmailed" into joining the United States and Israel military campaign in the Middle East.

"Europe – and Austria as well – will not allow itself to be blackmailed," he said ahead of the European Council summit of the leaders of the 27 EU nations. "Intervention in the Strait of Hormuz is not an option for Austria anyway."

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said there was "no appetite" among leaders to expand a European naval force in the Red Sea to help secure the Strait of Hormuz or otherwise join the fray.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the war must end before his country can help with matters such as keeping shipping lanes clear.

"We can and will commit ourselves only when the weapons fall silent," he said of potential German military support to secure shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz. "We can then do a great deal, up to opening sea lanes and keeping them clear, but we're not doing it during ongoing combat operations."

He said it would require an international mandate, among other complicated steps, "before we can even consider such an issue."

While the EU isn't a party to the conflict, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he understood the US and Israel’s reasons for launching the campaign against the "brutal" Iranian government. He called on the EU to increase both sanctions on Iran and support for Iranian opposition groups.

But others blasted the war as "illegal" and destabilizing.

"We are against this war because it is illegal," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. "It's causing a lot of damage to civilians, of course, refugees and the economic consequences that the whole world, especially the global south, is already suffering."