EU considers response to Middle East conflict as countries prepare to evacuate citizens – Europe live

In his speech, Macron warns that since the last speech in 2020, “our competitors have evolved, as have our partners,” and this requires a change in the French nuclear doctrine.

He says the deterrent element needs to be “strengthened” and considered in the European context, while respecting the French sovereignty and that the ultimate responsibility for its use will always lie with the French president of the day.

But he says that in recognition of the new challenges, France will need to increase the size of its nuclear arsenal.

He says he has ordered the increase in the number of warheads available to France, but will not reveal the exact number.

French president Emmanuel Macron is speaking in Île Longue, the naval base of the French nuclear programme, outlining his thinking on how France could use its nuclear deterrence programme in the future.

I will bring you all the key lines here.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth is now briefing the media on the US operations in Iran.

Here are his key points:

• “We didn’t start this war, but under president Trump, we are finishing it.”

• “The former regime had every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal, but Tehran was not negotiating,”

• “This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better, and so does this president”

If you want more detail on his presser, it’s here:

We are also hearing more from Spain, with the country’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares saying the country would not allow its military bases to be used for attacks on Iran, which Spain has condemned.

15 US aircraft have left the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain since the US and Israel launched weekend attacks on Iran, maps by flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed, as reported by Reuters.

“Spanish bases are not being used for this operation, and they will not be used for anything not included in the agreement with the United States or for anything that is not in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,” Albares said, speaking to Spanish broadcaster Telecinco.

In the meantime, the Cypriot government has confirmed that the evacuation of Paphos airport is now over, but the airport continues to report disruptions in its flight schedule for this afternoon with delays and divertions.

in Madrid

Spain’s Pedro Sánchez has warned against “spiral of violence” in the Middle East.

In a post on X, he said:

“In the past few hours, Iran has attacked Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, and Oman. We forcefully condemn all illegal and indiscriminate attacks against the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and other countries in the region. We also condemn Hezbollah’s missile launch and Israel’s attack on Lebanon.

Violence only leads to more violence. Bombs hit military targets, but also streets, airports, schools, and the homes of innocent civilians.

This spiral of violence must be stopped immediately, and there must be a return to the framework of diplomacy and dialogue.”

Greece will send two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus “to contribute to its defense against the threats it faces,” Greek defence minister Nikos Dendias has confirmed.

He said he will also travel to Cyprus tomorrow.

The move was also confirmed by the Cypriot government, saying the decision was made after a phone call between the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Cypriot president, Nikos Christodoulides.

The Cypriot interior ministry has just confirmed that “instructions have been issued for the evacuation of the Akrotiri municipal district and Paphos airport,” with residents in another area told to “limit unnecessary movements” and “remain in their homes.”

Civilian Larnaka airport in southern Cyprus also appears to be facing disruptions amid warnings over Cypriot airspace with three flights – from Belgrade, Rome and Heraklion in Greece – redirected to either Athens or back to Heraklion and dozens more cancelled this afternoon.

A Cypriot government spokesperson has just confirmed that two unmanned drones headed to RAF Akrotiri were intercepted before reaching the base.

“Two unmanned aerial vehicles that were moving towards the direction of the British Bases at Akrotiri were confronted in time,” Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.

Cypriot media are now reporting another security alert at the British airbase RAF Akrotiri and a separate order to evacuate the civil airport in Paphos.

Politis and Cyprus Mail have both reported that there was a fresh security warning with alarm sirens going off early afternoon, followed by extensive traffic out of the base, without going into the details of what caused it.

Both outlets also reported that Paphos airport was evacuated after a suspicious object was spotted on the airport’s radars, with first flights getting redirected to other airports.

The US Department of State for Consular Affairs has separately posted a warning about “information about a possible drone threat to Paphos region.”

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, called for a lasting “diplomatic” solution to the crisis in Iran, as she said the bloc would work hard to prepare “for the fallout from these recent events.”

Speaking at a press conference on trade with Switzerland, she said the situation remained “volatile,” but welcomed “a renewed hope for the oppressed people of Iran,” stressing the EU “strongly supports their right to determine their own future.”

She continued:

“We must work hard to de-escalate and stop the conflict spreading. In the last hours, we have witnessed numerous attacks, including a drone attack targeting the British airbase in Cyprus. We also saw a strike on the Saudi Aramco oil facility, and I condemn in the strongest terms these reckless and indiscriminate attacks by Iran and its proxies against sovereign territories across the region.”

Von der Leyen insisted that “the only lasting solution is a diplomatic one,” calling for “a credible transition for Iran, the definite hold to both the nuclear and ballistic programs, and an end to destabilising activities in the region.”

“This afternoon we will discuss the overall situation in a meeting of the Security College here in the European Commission. Because from energy to nuclear, from transport to migration to security, we must be prepared for the fallout from these recent events,” she said.

in Madrid

Spain has stepped up its calls for a return to negotiations between the US and Iran, warning that the current military strikes risk further destabilisation in the Middle East, and urging the EU to press for an urgent deescalation.

On Saturday, the country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the US and Israel’s “unilateral military action” was contributing to “a more hostile and uncertain international order” and called for a lasting political solution to the conflict.

He returned to the theme in a speech in Barcelona on Sunday, in which he defended Spain’s position.

“Today, more than ever, it’s vital to remember that you can be against a hateful regime – as Spanish society is as a whole when it comes to the Iranian regime – and, at the same time, against an unjustified and dangerous military intervention that is outside international law,” he said.

“We should be against a war that was begun without the authorisation of the US congress or the UN security council, and which, as I’ve said, violates international law. There’s always room for a negotiated solution instead of yielding to the devastation caused by weapons as the only possible way out.

“As we have from the beginning, I would like to call for an immediate deescalation, for the full respecting of international law in all the conflicts we’re sadly seeing, and urgent return to dialogue as soon as possible. That’s where Spain is going to be – and that’s where I think the European Union should be as a whole.”

King Felipe of Spain has echoed Sánchez’s calls for a diplomatic solution, saying:

“As we speak, the Middle East slides again into a critical juncture, with a clear risk of regional escalation and unpredictable consequences. We call for maximum restraint in the use of force; respect for the lives of civilians and the search for a diplomatic way out of this current logic of confrontation. We call to do so in order to prevent a chaotic situation and outright repression, and to restore dialogue for an honest quest towards peace.”

Others have been more forthright. An unnamed Spanish minister has told El País that the strikes on Iran suggested that Donald Trump was unravelling and that his actions would have global consequences:

“It seems Trump is self-destructing. There have already been American casualties. We warned that the precedent set by the intervention in Venezuela was very dangerous. Well, now we have it. This will leave greater animosity towards the West in the Middle East from the Arab world, with the risk of increased terrorism and instability.”

Italy’s opposition parties have called for the resignation of defence minister Guido Crosetto after he was left stranded while reportedly on holiday in Dubai with his family as Iranian bombardments were under way in the United Arab Emirates.

Opposition parties rounded on the government, arguing that Italy had been left exposed at a moment of acute international tension.

The defence minister’s presence in Dubai during a major military escalation, they said, was evidence that Rome had not been properly informed of key developments. Critics claimed the episode laid bare a government seemingly caught off guard by events unfolding above its head.

Crosetto returned yesterday on an Italian state flight, which sparked further criticism, as hundreds of other Italians remain stuck in Dubai while he was evacuated alone.

To avoid further backlash, he left his family in Dubai and flew back by himself. He has said he paid for the flight out of his own pocket. “I paid triple with my own money,” he said, citing he had to Dubai ‘‘for personal reasons.’’

Several opposition figures called for Crosetto’s resignation, describing the affair as either a serious institutional failure or a lapse of judgment by a minister responsible for national security who happened to be abroad as tensions spiralled.

“Stranded in Dubai like an ordinary tourist,” quipped Giuseppe Conte, the former prime minister and leader of M5S. Stefano Patuanelli, the party’s vice-president, called the matter “not personal but institutional,” branding the government “politically inadequate” and urging Crosetto to step down.

Reached by the Guardian, Crosetto said: “I am in my office dealing with far more serious matters, and I do not think that having been stranded, like thousands of other people, is an important issue.”

Hundreds more flights were cancelled on Monday, extending the turmoil in global air travel caused by the US-Israel war on Iran, with hundreds of thousands of passengers already stranded.

Leading airline stocks came under pressure after days of disruption, with Donald Trump indicating that the US military action could last another four weeks.

Major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai – the world’s busiest international hub – closed for a third consecutive day amid the most acute aviation shock since the Covid-19 pandemic paralysed the industry.

Flights across the Middle East have been cancelled, disrupting thousands of services so far, as international carriers continued to suspend their services.

Early on Monday, 1,239 flights had already been cancelled. Emirates Airlines, based in Dubai; Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi; and Qatar Airways, based in Doha; have collectively cancelled hundreds of flights.

Other carriers cancelled services across the region. Air India cancelled flights on Sunday departing from Delhi, Mumbai and Amritsar for major cities in Europe and North America.

Almost 2,800 flights were cancelled on Saturday, and 3,156 cancelled on Sunday, according to the tracking platform FlightAware.

“For travellers, there’s no way to sugarcoat this,” said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst and the president of Atmosphere Research Group. “You should prepare for delays or cancellations for the next few days as these attacks evolve and hopefully end.”

Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar was still virtually empty as of Monday, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24.

The impact spread far beyond the Middle East, with passengers stranded from Bali to Frankfurt.

Meanwhile, the Irish European affairs and defence minister Thomas Byrne said that the advice for Irish people in the Gulf region remains to stay sheltered and not attempt to leave the area via land routes.

He said land routes are not recommended, “because of the sheer number of Irish people that are there,” RTÉ said.

“You may get to another country, but the question would be, would you be able to fly out of that country? So that’s not something that we can recommend, and that’s why the advice very clearly has to be to shelter in place,” he added.

In the last few minutes, Cyprus has confirmed that a planned meeting of EU ministers in Lefkosia has been postponed after last night’s drone incident at the British military base RAF Akrotiri.

The Czech Republic is among the EU countries actively looking to take some of its citizens out of the region, with the prime minister, Andrej Babiš, confirming plans to run first flights in the coming hours.

Speaking to reporters after this morning’s security council meeting, Babiš confirmed plans for three evacuation flights, two from Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh and one from Amman in Jordan.

Foreign minister Petr Macinka said the first plane could take off from Prague “within the next two hours,” as it’s waiting for final clearances.

Czech airline Smartwings is also expected to run four flights to take their customers out from Moskat and Salalah in Oman, neighbouring with the United Arab Emirates, he said, which are expected to depart for Prague, Bratislava, and Warsaw, Babiš said.

As of Sunday morning, over 3,500 Czechs had registered for evacuation from the UAE, with another 900 in Oman, “hundreds” in Jordan and Israel, and about a hundred in Saudi Arabia, iDnes reported.

Neighbouring Slovakia is also working on an evacuation flight from Aqaba in Jordan, which is also expected to pick up some Czech tourists.

But the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, warned on Sunday that further evacuation flights could be difficult to organise given airspace closures.

A so-called “security college” of the European Commission is set to meet today as the European Union is considering its options given the escalating situation in the Middle East.

The bloc’s foreign ministers spoke at an online emergency meeting last night, with the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warning later about the prospect of further escalation in the region. She also stressed the importance of keeping critical waterways, like the strait of Hormuz, open.

But several countries will also be drawing up their plans to evacuate some of their citizens out of the region, with hundreds of thousands believed to be stuck either in transit or on holidays in the broader affected area.

I will keep an eye on their plans, as we could see some countries team up and work together to take their citizens out of the area.

The life also does not stop across Europe and so I will bring you all the key updates from across the continent, including from Emmanuel Macron’s much-awaited speech on nuclear deterrence this afternoon.

For our main coverage of the Middle East, you can follow this blog:

It’s Monday, 2 March 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.