Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday and assured him that Italy didn’t support the US war against Iran after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte claimed that 500 US military aircraft took off from bases in Italy during the US-Israeli bombing campaign.
“Italy has never taken part in any military initiative and has never authorized the use of bases for war actions against Iran, in the strictest respect of the treaties with the United States,” Tajani said in a statement on his call with Araghchi.
Rutte’s comments came after Italian officials had repeatedly said Italy didn’t authorize direct military action to be taken against Iran from Italian soil, though the Italian Defense Ministry did acknowledge that “technical and logistical, non-kinetic, activities were authorized” during the bombing campaign.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday that Rutte gave a confused account of Italy’s role in US military operations and pointed out that her public spat with President Trump began when Italy refused to allow US bombers involved in the war to land at US bases in the country.
“In his — let’s call it enthusiastic — account, the secretary-general has lumped together things that are actually quite different from one another, confusing the types of authorized flights,” Meloni said.
“We did not participate in the conflict with Iran. By the way, if we had participated in the Iran conflict, there would be no explanation for this disappointment that the U.S. president keeps reiterating very often,” she added.
After the G7 summit in France, Trump claimed that Meloni had “begged” for a photo with him, a claim she strongly denied. Trump attacked Meloni in a post on Truth Social on Saturday and referenced her position on the war.
“She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!),” Trump wrote.
“She wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience, and this despite the fact the U.S. contributes hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year to protect Italy, and other ‘so-called’ NATO Allies. Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!”
While Trump claims Meloni is losing popularity due to her lack of support for the conflict with Iran, polling in Italy shows the war is very unpopular. A poll from mid-April found that 79% of Italians disapproved of Trump’s handling of the war, which included 76% of center-right voters, Meloni’s base.
