‘Iran was Europe’s war,’ says former Trump security advisor

Published on 19/03/2026 – 20:20 GMT+1•Updated
20:22

Europe’s stance on the Iran was risks US President Donald Trump walking away from the conflict in Ukraine, his former national security advisor, John Bolton, has said, criticizing the EU’s reaction to the situation in the Middle East.

In an interview with Euronews, Bolton, who also previously served as the US’s ambassador to the UN, branded the Iran conflict as “Europe’s war.”

“Europe is just as much, if not more, at risk from nuclear attacks if Iran gets nuclear weapons,” said Bolton. “It has the missile capability to hit Central and Eastern Europe – not the United States.”

He warned that EU leaders could be handing an “invitation” to Trump to decide that “Ukraine is not America’s war,” branding the lack of political will across the bloc to participate in the war on Iran as a “mistake.”

His comments came as the US-Israeli was in Iran, which has spilled over into other Middle Eastern countries, approaching its fourth week. European leaders have been reluctant to join in the war effort, amid repeated criticism from Trump, who said he was “shocked” by their lack of action and has warned that NATO allies are making a “foolish mistake” by not doing more.

Bolton, who has been a vocal critic of both Trump’s foreign policy in his second mandate and the threat posed by Iran, said that the US president’s ultimate goal in Iran is regime change.

“Trump will declare a victory no matter what happens, and the argument will be that the nuclear weapons program has been set back further, that support for international terrorism has been set back further,” Bolton said. “But if the regime survives, however much damage has been done to it, it will build back, and the nuclear threat and terrorism threat will simply return.”

Bolton spoke to Euronews via video call on the sidelines of a crunch EU summit in Brussels, as leaders gathered to discuss the war in the Middle East, the looming energy crisis, and Hungary’s veto on a €90 billion loan for Ukraine.

Watch the full interview in the video player above.