Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Washington's Middle Eastern allies, are  the countries supporting Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. European countries and the rest of the world are unanimous in dismissing the U.S. decision as thoughtless and harebrained. 

Most of the criticism in European statements and analysis highlights that the current accord ensures the close monitoring of Iran's nuclear activities and would allow for "bridging gaps," such as negotiations with Iran on its ballistic missiles and its so-called "destabilizing" activities in the Middle East region, as well as negotiations on uranium enrichment after 2025. 

The European leaders' insistence on the need to adhere to the terms of the 2015 accord stems from their attempt to protect European companies' interests in Iran that are being dealt a severe blow with the pullout.

This comes amid the 90-day and 180-day wind-down periods set by Trump for necessary measures to be taken by the U.S. department to re-effectuate the sanctions on Iran, and thus accordingly for European companies to halt business deals in the targeted country.

Trump's withdrawal does not only jeopardize the European companies' interests, but also threatens Europe's existence as a balancing and influential political power in the larger political landscape dominated by the U.S. 

The "beseeching" efforts made by Emanuel Marcon, Theresa May and Angela Merkel to dissuade Trump from scraping the international deal in the weeks and days leading up to his final decision, which came out on May 8, fell on deaf ears.

The so-called "allies," who were part of negotiating and striking the agreement among the P5+1 group of countries -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) plus Germany -- were completely excluded as Trump unilaterally took his decision and has threatened European countries and companies with punitive measures in the event of non-compliance with his "orders."

Trump's actions since he came into office have signaled disregard for Europe. He unilaterally walked out of the Paris climate accord with Europe and threatened to discard the free trade agreement with Canada. He reprimanded the EU, on top of it Berlin, for running a big trade deficit with the U.S., hinting at America's sacrifices in the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe, mainly Germany, after World War II.

Leaders of Europe are as much to blame for having relinquished their historical European legacy in favor of blindly following the American model and policies, only to now find themselves struggling to salvage Total's contract to develop Iran's South Pars natural gas field -- the world's largest, the Airbus aircraft supply deal and Renault and Peugeot deals, which will lose tens of billions of U.S. dollars, among others.

Trump's pullout of the Iran deal adds more momentum to the mounting anti-American sentiment that has been building up in Europe for years, amid the growing appeal for a European-modeled globalist alternative to the U.S.' nationalism, that is doing serious damage to the transatlantic relationship between both sides.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire's call on Europe to resist the U.S.' self-proclaimed position as the "world's economic policeman" in addition to his question: "Do we want to be vassals who obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers?" is an example of the heated anti-American rhetoric that is increasingly prevailing not just among Europe's elites but also across the whole Old Continent.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was clearer in expressing the need for Europe to follow a new path away from the U.S. to shape its own policies and fate. "It is no longer such that the United States simply protects us, but Europe must take its destiny in its own hands, that's the task of the future," she said.

The European Commission's President Jean-Claude Juncker struck a more defiant note calling on Europe to take up leadership of the world and replace the U.S., whom he said "has lost its vigor."

Now that Europe's illusions of having enjoyed a relationship of "equals" with the U.S. within the transatlantic alliance's framework are dispelled, it is time for Europe to make a historic decision whether to stay under the umbrella of a hegemonic mentality, made more extreme by a capricious president, or to forge a way out into a more independent path where other partners, like China and Russia, are extending a hand of cooperation.

Iran's current limited willingness to cooperate with and get practical guarantees from the European countries to try to keep the deal in place without the U.S. could be a great opportunity for the Europeans to take the first step on their new path and offer a new alternative multipolar world order based on international law which ensures the interests of countries are equally preserved.

Haifa Said is chief editor of the English Department at the Syrian Arab News Agency.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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