OVER THE past 25 years, European and American perspectives toward the Islamic Republic of Iran have sometimes converged and sometimes diverged. Initially, Europeans, like Americans, were concerned that Iran would try to export its revolution throughout the Islamic world. France was the target of a vicious Hizballah attack against its peacekeeping forces in Lebanon in 1983, and later of Iranian-sponsored bombings in Paris. The United Kingdom was the victim of Iranian wrath during the Salman Rushdie affair. And many Europeans became hostages of Iranian-sponsored groups in Lebanon. This led the Europeans, in tune with Washington, to support Iraq in various ways during the 1980-88 war with Iran. Notably, the Europeans terminated all assistance to Iran's nuclear program; France and Iran embarked on a bitter legal feud about the shah's $1 billion loan to Paris for a 10 percent share in the EURODIF uranium enrichment consortium, while Germany refused to continue working on the Bushehr power plant (leaving Russia to pick up the pieces).
