# Europe and the 2026 Iran war > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Europe and the 2026 Iran war," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/europe-and-the-2026-iran-war/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The rupture between the United States and its European allies over the 2026 Iran war, as the economist Richard D. Wolff described it on John Kiriakou's programme: Europe was not told the attack was coming, refused Donald Trump's request for help halfway through it, and was then publicly attacked by him for refusing. Wolff's verdict was that the alliance did not survive it, 'NATO is dead, the alliance is dead, and the blame for it is 100% on the US.'* - **What Europe was told in advance:** Nothing - **Trump's mid-war request:** Refused, apart from British use of the base in Cyprus - **Wolff's verdict:** 'NATO is dead, the alliance is dead, and the blame for it is 100% on the US' - **Why it stung:** Iranian missiles could reach European cities - **Poll standing of Britain, France and Germany's leaders:** Between 10 and 20 per cent **Europe and the 2026 Iran war** describes the collapse of allied confidence that the economist [Richard D. Wolff](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/richard-wolff) reported to [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) in April 2026, a month or so into the fighting. ## Not told, then asked for help The European governments, in Wolff's account, learned of the attack when everyone else did: *"The Europeans had not been told by the United States about the attack. They had not been warned. They had not had time to prepare."* They had assumed the United States would coordinate the war with them, and Mr Trump did not.[1][2] The sequence that followed is the one Wolff treats as decisive. Halfway through the war [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump) asked the Europeans for help and *"they basically said no."* The single exception he identified was British: *"The British let them use the base in Cyprus, but mostly did not"* support the effort. Trump then attacked the Europeans publicly, *"furious that they weren't helping him, utterly oblivious to the reason why, which they told him."*[3] ## "NATO is dead" Wolff's summary of European feeling was unhedged: *"the anger, the bitterness of the Europeans against the United States cannot be over stressed."* His verdict on the alliance followed directly, *"NATO is dead, the alliance is dead, and the blame for it is 100% on the US. That's the view in Europe."* He set it alongside the tariff dispute of the previous year as the second time Trump had declined to sit down with them.[4] What made the failure to warn more than a diplomatic slight, in his telling, was range. The Iranian missiles that damaged American bases in the Gulf and penetrated Israeli air defences could travel hundreds of kilometres, and *"those missiles could go to Europe. They could hit European cities."* To be exposed to a war that way without having been consulted was, he said, *"driving them crazy with anger and bitterness at being treated in this way. And America are going to have to deal with that for years to come."*[5][6] ## The domestic cost to European leaders Wolff attached a political consequence to it. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany were polling *"between 10 and 20%,"* were *"not going to be in power much longer,"* and what was driving them out was *"a popular opinion that blames them for being lackeys of Mr. Trump."*[7] The immediate material consequence for Europe was fuel: see [Europe's 2026 jet fuel crisis](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/europe-jet-fuel-crisis-2026). ## See also - [2026 Iran war](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/2026-iran-war) - [Europe's 2026 jet fuel crisis](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/europe-jet-fuel-crisis-2026) - [Richard D. Wolff](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/richard-wolff) - [Article 5, invoked once](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/nato-article-5-invoked-once) - [Europe without Russian gas](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/europe-without-russian-gas) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 10:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=629s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/ 2. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 11:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=661s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/ 3. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 11:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=693s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/ 4. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 12:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=725s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/ 5. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 12:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=755s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/ 6. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 13:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=788s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/ 7. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 13:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=820s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/europe-and-the-2026-iran-war/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt