Italy denies Rutte and denies having ceded bases for the US offensive in Iran
The NATO Secretary General assures that 500 US planes made use of Italian bases during the war against Tehran
BarcelonaItaly's Ministry of Defense has denied the statements of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who claimed that the government of the country's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, had made its bases available to Washington for 500 US aircraft in the offensive against Iran. "It is surprising that the Secretary General of NATO, who has nothing to do with the 'Epic Fury' operation, offers a reconstruction that conveys a completely fallacious message by confusing the type of authorized flights," the ministry said in a statement.
Rutte cited Italy as an example of European support for the United States in statements to Fox News. He assured that 500 US aircraft had taken off from Italian bases "to support 'Epic Fury'," the name given to the military operation against Iran that Washington launched along with Israel. These statements contradict the position of Meloni's government, which has repeatedly stated that it did not authorize the use of Italian territory for direct military actions against Iran.
According to the statement from the Italian Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, Italy has acted in full compliance with its Constitution, international treaties, and agreements governing allied bases on its territory. "As has already been clarified in Parliament, the government exclusively authorized technical and logistical, not kinetic, activities," the minister said, adding that Italy had rejected requests that fell outside these limits.
Tension between Rome and Washington
The relationship between Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump is not going through its best moment. The latest clash was last week, when Trump stated in an interview that the Italian prime minister had “begged” him to take a photo together during the G-7 summit, held in the French town of Évian-les-Bains. Meloni denied Trump in a video on social media that concluded with a strong statement: “Neither I nor Italy ever beg”.
The confrontation between the two leaders has led the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of the Italian government, Antonio Tajani, to cancel the visit he had planned to make to the United States at the end of June. The transalpine country hosts about 120 US military installations, including the naval air station in Sigonella, Sicily, and the Aviano air base in northern Italy. Currently, there are about 12,600 US soldiers stationed across the bases in Vicenza, Aviano, Naples, and Sicily.