Meloni furious at Rutte over confusion about Italy’s role in Iran war
Photo: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (Getty Images)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday accused NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte of a confused interpretation of the situation when he described her country as providing massive support for US-Israeli strikes against Iran, according to Politico.
Responding to US President Donald Trump's frustration over whether European NATO members are contributing their share, Rutte told Fox News on Wednesday that Rome had played a key role in the war with Iran.
As the Alliance's Secretary General said at the time, Italy allowed 500 US military aircraft to use its air bases – a claim with which Meloni categorically disagreed.
This interview also caused a political storm for Meloni, as her opponents accused her of misleading the public. After all, the politician insisted that she remained on the sidelines of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran. Rome supposedly allowed only logistical and technical operations at US bases in Italy.
On Thursday, Meloni denied Rutte's words, stating that he had mistakenly implied that flights from Italy were used for direct attacks on Iran, in an attempt to convince Washington that NATO was playing a significant role.
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," the Prime Minister told journalists during the Franco-Italian summit in southern France.
"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," Meloni added.
Trump-Meloni conflict
The Italian Prime Minister has clashed with Trump in recent days, with the US president sharply criticizing her for refusing US bombers access to Italian bases.
She reiterated that Italy only allows bases to be used for logistical and technical operations. Meloni said she had no idea why Rutte gave such an overly simplified version.
"Probably it was an attempt to prepare in the best way the next NATO summit, but, in any case, I think one needs to be cautious when talking about these matters," the head of government stated.
