Pressure mounts in Gulf: Diplomacy can trump threats

Even if you believe that the Falklands/Islas Malvinas are as British as Finchley, the memory of the 1982 sinking of the ARA General Belgrano and the 323 lives needlessly taken must be disturbing. Britain has, since then, engaged in several conflicts that might be termed legacies of empire or at least the psychological legacy of empire. It may be on the cusp of doing so again, this time with Iran.

What an unnerving prospect that seems as Boris Johnson closes in on Britain’s premiership. Those concerns are exacerbated by fears that America’s national security adviser John Bolton may, on Iran, be “off the wall” and that he might have achieved a destabilising influence in London.

Ironically, as Britain prepares to leave the EU, Europe has a sane view of this oil-fuelled tinder box. America has declared Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organisation, Europe has not. How long those differing perspectives can endure under intensifying American pressure is, sadly, moot. There is also, from a British perspective, the issue of capacity. Decades of arms cuts suggest that horns should be pulled in rather than drums beaten — no matter how close we are to elections in America and Britain.

The Trump administration’s absence of clear objectives, or commitments, muddies the waters too. Europe and Britain hope to de-escalate this simmering conflict through renewed diplomatic efforts. Let us hope they succeed.