Europe’s Dangerous Appeasement of Iran

JERUSALEM – It didn’t look good. Just as Iran lifted the Internet blackout cloaking its deadly crackdown of protesters two weeks ago, Germany, France and Britain made a special announcement: Six more Western European nations were joining the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX).

Don’t be fooled by the dull name. INSTEX amounts to a European attempt to trade with the Iranian regime through a barter system—to circumvent United States sanctions.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. While Iranian civilians were dying for standing up to the fanatical regime, Europeans were devising a way to empower that same regime.

Given Europe’s self-professed claim as the moral, progressive and democratic bastion of the world, you would think it would support the protesters.

But that’s not what it looked like.