Iran rift poses transatlantic challenge: Survey

Brussels, Sep 7: Europeans and Americans differ widely over whether to use force if diplomacy fails to contain Iran's nuclear programme, posing a major challenge for future transatlantic relations, a major opinion survey shows.

The annual Transatlantic Trends study by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and four European foundations suggests US-European ties are unlikely to recover until there is a new president in the White House and may not improve much even then.

The poll, conducted in the United States and 12 European countries in June and released yesterday, showed an overwhelming 77 per cent of Europeans disapprove of President George W Bush's international policies.

While Americans and Europeans largely agreed on the main security threats terrorism, energy dependence, climate change and the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons they differ widely on the use of force to solve problems.

The divergence was sharpest over how to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, with 47 per cent of Europeans favouring ruling out military action if diplomacy fails and only 18 per cent in favour of threatening the use of force.

By contrast, 47 per cent of Americans favour keeping the military option and only 32 per cent would rule it out.

Iran insists its programme is purely for civilian energy purposes but the West suspects Tehran is pursuing uranium enrichment in the quest for a bomb.

''Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown may offer a new spirit of cooperation in transatlantic relations in Europe, but this year's Transatlantic Trends suggest they will need to tread carefully,'' the organisers said.

Ties Seen Worse

Despite the emergence of new leaders in Germany, France and Britain untainted by the Iraq war, half the Americans questioned and one-third of the Europeans said ties between Europe and the United States have worsened in the last year.

The state of public opinion appears to contrast with closer cooperation on a range of foreign policy issues from the Middle East to the Iranian nuclear issue and the crisis in Darfur.

Respondents cited the management of the Iraq war and Bush's personal style as reasons for their perception.

More than a third of Europeans in 12 countries surveyed and 42 percent of Americans expect transatlantic cooperation to improve after Bush's successor is elected next year.

But 46 per cent of Europeans and 37 per cent of Americans believe relations will stay the same whoever is elected.

''(The) findings suggest that US-European relations will not be mended simply by the election of a new US president or by the emergence of a new generation of European leaders,'' the survey said.

''Rather, the conflict in Iraq and differences over the use of force will likely continue to affect transatlantic relations beyond the Bush presidency.'' The study showed Europeans had a general reluctance to use force and while most supported deploying troops for peacekeeping and reconstruction in Afghanistan, two-thirds were unwilling to commit their soldiers to combat operations against the Taliban.

The poll was conducted by TNS Opinion between June 4 and 23 in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, with a margin of error of three per cent.

Reuters
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