The Islamic Republic of Iran arms, finances, and trains its “ring of fire” armies to surround Israel and eventually erase it off the map. If successful, though, will they stop with the Jewish state? As a devastating battle is percolating on the Israeli-Lebanese border, the most formidable of Iran’s militias, Hezbollah, is threatening war against a European Union member. In response Brussels issues a statement. America’s futile mediation is backed by no Plan B.  

“Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war,” Hezbollah’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a speech Thursday, adding, “the resistance will deal with it as part of the war.” The tiny island of Cyprus is home to two bases of Britain’s Royal Air Force. From there the storied RAF is conducting sorties to Syria and Yemen as part of the war on terror.

In Mid-April a coalition of Western and Arab countries aided Israel when Iran launched hundreds of missiles. The effort reportedly included British jets based on Cyprus. Hezbollah apparently suspects that if it manages to devastate Israeli bases in a coming all-out war, Israeli jets would relocate to the island. For the record, Cyprus is “in no way involved” in the region’s wars, its president, Nikos Christodoulides, said Thursday. 

“Cyprus is a member state of the European Union,” a spokesman, Peter Stano, said. “This means the European Union is Cyprus and Cyprus is the European Union.” Yet few in the region bet on, say, France, to militarily aid Nicosia if it is attacked from nearby Lebanon. Paris is too busy trying to dissuade Israel from ending Hezbollah’s endless attacks on Galilee, which has forced 70,000 Israelis out of their homes in northern Israel. 

France, Lebanon’s former colonial power, believes it has influence over Beirut. Yet, its mediation attempts ring hollow, following President Macron’s order that banned Israeli companies from participating in Eurosatory, one of the world’s largest arms fairs. A French court partially overturned the order after accredited Israeli reporters were turned away. Yet with Mr. Macron’s antics, France’s diplomacy lost out. 

Which leaves Washington. President Biden is eager to mediate a war-averting pact between its top Mideast ally and the organization that tops the State Department’s terror list. Yet, even the top White House special envoy, Amos Hochstein, is now reportedly giving up. As a devastating war that could envelop the entire region seems inevitable, Prime Minister Netanyahu accuses Washington of denying arms to Israel. 

The Israeli premier is accused of indiscretion by confronting an American president. His English-language video is seen as provocative, and perhaps was even designed to appease his political right wing allies at home. Yet America’s “we don’t know what he’s talking about” act rings hollow. It acknowledges that a delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel is being “reviewed” since Washington’s admonitions on the Rafah invasion were discounted. 

Politico reported last month that the administration is also reviewing deliveries of Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which convert “dumb bombs” to smart ones. Why, if Mr. Biden wants to minimize civilian casualties, would he withhold arms designed to do just that? Also, the Wall Street Journal this week reported that an $18 billion sale of 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel, approved by Congress in May, is yet to be delivered. 

These denials of arm deliveries to Israel are often described as mere bureaucratic snags. Yet Mr. Biden’s fear of a muscular response to aggression also seems at play. Meant to ensure global “stability,” such timidity emboldens America’s foes. Reining in allies in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, and the Mideast might prove to be hazardous to Israel. Yet as Hezbollah’s threat to Cyprus demonstrates, Europe, and eventually America, could be next.