Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni rejected comments made by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte claiming that Rome allowed extensive use of Italian air bases by US aircraft during the recent war on Iran. Rutte made the comments to Fox News on Thursday, while Meloni responded on the same day during a Franco-Italian summit in southern France. The dispute centers on the scale and nature of Italy’s involvement in supporting US and Israeli military operations against Iran.
Rutte told Fox News that roughly 500 US planes had taken off from bases in Italy in support of the operation, which he referred to by its code name, Epic Fury. He said the figure was part of a broader total of between 4,000 and 5,000 aircraft that had used European bases during the war.
“Country after country, ally after ally after ally have made their bases available for Epic Fury,” Rutte said.
“If you look at Italy, 500 US planes took off from US bases in Italy to support Epic Fury,” he said. “This is massive.”
Meloni dismissed the characterization as an oversimplification. Speaking to reporters in France, she said Rutte had combined different categories of authorized flights into a single figure that misrepresented Italy’s actual 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 authorised flights,” Meloni told reporters.
She said Italian bases were used solely for logistical purposes and that Italy did not take part in combat operations against Iran. “We did not participate in the conflict with Iran,” Meloni said. “By the way, if we had participated in the Iran conflict, there would be no explanation for this disappointment that the US president keeps reiterating very often.”
Meloni is currently facing criticism from political opponents in Italy who accuse her of misleading the public about the extent of Italian cooperation with US operations, according to a report from Il Sole 24 Ore.
The exchange touches on questions of international law regarding third-party states permitting their territory to be used in military operations against another country. Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, wrote on X that United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 classifies a state’s permission for its territory to be used by another state to launch attacks on a third country as a form of aggression.
Regional and global impact
The dispute has implications for Italy’s standing within NATO and its relationship with Washington. Rutte’s remarks came as tensions between Rome and the Trump administration have grown following President Donald Trump’s public criticism of European allies he said had failed to adequately support the war on Iran. The disagreement over Italy’s actual contribution adds a new layer to that strain, with Meloni’s account directly contradicting that of NATO’s top official on the scale of European logistical support for the operation.
Background
Tensions between Italy and the United States have been building for weeks. On June 19, Meloni publicly criticized Trump after he said she had “begged” him for a photograph during the G7 summit. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies; it is not the first time,” she wrote, adding that she found it disappointing that Trump did not show the same firmness toward adversaries of the West. Italy’s foreign minister subsequently announced on X that he had canceled a planned visit to Washington, citing what he called Trump’s “serious and offensive words.” Trump had separately named Italy among several EU countries he accused of failing to back the US-Israeli campaign against Iran.
What happens next
Meloni has not indicated that Italy plans to issue further public clarification beyond her remarks in France, and no joint statement from Rome and NATO headquarters has been announced. Rutte’s office has not issued any walk-back or amendment of his comments to Fox News. Iran’s deputy foreign minister has not specified further legal action tied to his comments on UN Resolution 3314. The Italian foreign minister’s planned trip to Washington remains canceled, with no rescheduled date announced.
