Meloni criticized Rutte following his statement on Italy's role during the strikes on Iran
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte of misrepresenting her country’s role during the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. The Alliance leader’s statement sparked a political scandal in Italy and drew a wave of criticism from the opposition.
The day before, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an interview with Fox News that Italy played an important role during the conflict with Iran by allowing about 500 U.S. military aircraft to use its air bases.
Rutte’s remarks came in response to criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that European allies are not contributing enough to NATO operations.
Following the NATO Secretary General’s statement, the Italian opposition accused the Meloni government of misleading the public. Politicians pointed out that the prime minister had previously assured the public that Italy was not participating in the war and that the U.S. military was using Italian bases solely for logistical and technical purposes.
During the Franco-Italian summit in southern France, Meloni reacted sharply to Rutte’s remarks.
“In his—let’s call it—‘captivating’ account, the secretary-general conflated matters that are in fact substantially different from one another, mixing up various types of authorized flights,” the head of the Italian government stated.
According to the prime minister, Rutte’s remarks created the false impression that flights from Italian territory were being used to directly strike Iran.
She emphasized that this is not true.
“We did not participate in the conflict with Iran. Incidentally, if Italy had actually participated in the war, there would be no grounds for the disappointment that the U.S. president keeps talking about,” Meloni stressed.
The dispute between Italian leadership and NATO arose amid discussions regarding the U.S. military’s use of Italian bases during operations in the Middle East.
The Italian government insists that the permissions granted pertained only to logistical support and technical assistance, and not to the country’s participation in military operations against Iran.
This was reported by Politico.
Earlier, Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), officially stated that the agency’s inspectors would definitely visit Iranian nuclear facilities to conduct inspections.
Iran has agreed to allow IAEA inspectors access to its nuclear facilities.
The IAEA Board of Governors condemned Russian attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear facilities.
