MNA – Gordon Sondland, the US representative to the European Union, has in fact insulted and humiliated the Europeans by calling their special mechanism for trade with Iran, officially called INSTEX, a “paper tiger”.

"EU's new proposal for trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran is nothing, but a paper tiger," Radio Farda quoted Sondland as saying in a meeting in Brussels on April 11, Radio Farda reported.

By appearing too weak in the face of the Trump administration, Europe will be considered as unimportant and spineless by other countries in the world, especially by major powers such as China and Russia.

The Europeans should feel assured that they will suffer more humiliations if they try to act passively toward illegal moves and humiliating remarks by Trump and his soldiers.

The Trump administration has been actually questioning Europeans’ political sovereignty and independence by threatening to punish them if they do business with Iran.

Since coming to power, Trump has been continuing to humiliate the world, including Europe as a trans-Atlantic ally of Washington.

Europeans’ lame response to US embassy move to Jerusalem and its recognition of the occupied Golan Heights as Israeli land in violation of international law are all making Europe to look impotent and as a bloc that cannot to be reckoned with.

The Europeans have been long proclaiming support for sovereign rights of the nations and respect for international law and order but their passive reaction to such violations is making the Trump administration more arrogant.

A long delay by Europeans to introduce their financial mechanism for non-dollar trade with Iran and now their slow move to implement it will make Europe as a whole to look weak, something which will strengthen Sondland’s discourteous remarks.

Trump and the hawks around him are showing contempt for all the things that the EU is saying it is standing for. They violate international law, rescind international agreements such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord, scold international bodies such as the United Nations and International Court of Justice, etc.

The EU must rise up to these threats and humiliations and stop cajoling and begging impulsive Trump to change his mind. Europeans should gradually say goodbye to trans-Atlantic alliance and guard their own dignity otherwise they will be regarded as a US colony.