Europe’s hard right fractures over US-Israel war on Iran

Far-right forces are split over nationalism, foreign policy and ties to US President Donald Trump.Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, attends a protest against the Iranian government in London, UK, January 11, 2026 [File: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters]Published On 11 Mar 2026The US-Israeli war on Iran has exposed divisions among Europe’s far-right parties and personalities.In one camp, Atlanticists such as Nigel Farage, founder of the populist hard-right Reform UK party, support the war.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4How US-Israel war on Iran deepens Gaza crisislist 2 of 4Australia grants asylum to five Iranian women footballerslist 3 of 4WHO chief raises alarm after Israeli attacks on Iranian oil facilitieslist 4 of 4Israel launches new wave of attacks across Lebanonend of listIn a recent post on X, he urged United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “back the Americans in this vital fight against Iran!”Days later, he stated that any refugees fleeing Iran “should be housed in the Middle East and not in Britain”.Spain’s far-right Vox party has also backed the war, criticising Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after the left-wing prime minister condemned it as an “unjustified” and “dangerous military intervention”.Others are more sceptical.Nigel Farage, right, speaks next to US President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Phoenix Goodyear Airport in Goodyear, Arizona, US, October 28, 2020 [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]Tino Chrupalla, co-chair of Alternative for Germany (AfD), warned that US President Donald Trump was becoming a “president of war”.Markus Frohnmaier, the AfD’s lead candidate for state elections in Baden-Wurttemberg, told Welt that the war must be considered in a “nuanced way” and that it is in “Germany’s interest” not to experience “new migration flows” as a result of it.In the UK, two combative figures, Tommy Robinson and Paul Golding, are diverging over the war.Robinson, an Islamophobe and staunch supporter of Israel, has enthusiastically supported it, while Golding, leader of the far-right Britain First party, took to X to write: “Not our fight, not our war. Put Britain First.”Other parties appear hesitant.Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally, criticised US intervention in Venezuela in January, stating “the sovereignty of States is never negotiable”.However, after the Iran war began, she expressed cautious support, telling French media that she found “nothing shocking” about President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France was sending an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the widening conflict.The limits of far-right unityThe split in opinion over Iran reflects a “paradox” about the European far right, Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, told Al Jazeera.The hard right is often “seen as riding a wave built on similar grievances and concerns in every country – most obviously around immigration”, he said.“It’s also built on nationalism and, as a result, there are limits both to cooperation between different parties in different countries.”He said that historically, parts of the far right in countries such as France and Germany have viewed the United States with suspicion, while others, particularly in countries where anti-communism shaped post-war politics, tended to see Washington as a strategic ally.That divergence is now resurfacing over Iran.Morgan Finnsio, a Swedish researcher who studies far-right movements, noted that the Western far right has long aspired to ideological unity but has consistently fractured over geopolitical issues.He told Al Jazeera that factions were previously split over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Divisions now centre on Trump’s “radical new geopolitical orientation, with its consequences such as attacking Venezuela [and] threatening Greenland”, he told Al Jazeera.“In recent years, [Vladimir] Putin’s Russia, Trump’s United States, and [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s Israel have all courted European far-right actors,” said Finnsio, adding that “these outside powers have geopolitical preferences that tend to be absorbed by their allies and proteges.”Those with closer ties to Washington or Israel have supported the onslaught in Iran, which has killed more than 1,000 people, he said. Parties with stronger ideological or political affinities with Russia, which maintains ties with Iran, have been more cautious or openly opposed.Far-right positions on foreign conflicts are “more motivated by the particular geopolitical circumstances at a given time” rather than principles, Finnsio said.Existing fault linesFinnsio said these divisions are maintaining an “already-existing” split.Whether the Iran war will impact elections remains to be seen, he added.In the UK, Bale said it could.“Farage’s gung-ho attitude to the attack on Iran may please some of his party’s base, but voters as a whole aren’t enthusiastic, and Reform UK will likely perform less well than it would have done in contests coming up this spring.”Reform UK is currently leading national opinion polls.Its leadership has backed the war, but polling suggests its voters are less enthusiastic, with a March 2026 YouGov survey showing that only 28 percent of Reform UK voters strongly support US military actions against Iran.More broadly, analysts suggest that a close association with US President Donald Trump could become politically risky.“I think any European far-right actor that is seen as being too close to Trump may find themselves discredited to some extent,” said Finnsio, while cautioning that the longer-term landscape remains uncertain.Even when the war enters political debate, analysts say it is more likely to be reframed through domestic issues for the far right.Finnsio pointed to Sweden’s September elections as an example.He said if the war features in the election campaigns, “it will be discussed in the terms of the ‘risk’ that Sweden be ‘exposed’ to a new influx of refugees – thereby bringing the discussion back to the topic Sweden has, thanks to the [nationalist and right-wing populist political party] Sweden Democrats, already been obsessing over for years, which is migration and integration”.