Europe will look on Friday for ways to guide the United States and Iran away from open conflict, knowing that a miscalculation from either side could leave the bloc facing war and a serious nuclear proliferation crisis at its doorstep.
In a rare emergency meeting, EU foreign ministers, to be joined by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, may avoid any tough diplomatic response for now after Washington and Tehran backed off from an outright conflagration following the US killing of an Iranian general in Iraq and retaliatory missile strikes by Iran that avoided military casualties.