Italy rejects Nato chief's claim it assisted US in Iran war
According to Iran's IRNA news agency, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Thursday evening to reject allegations made by Nato's secretary general that US military bases in Italy were used for military operations against Iran.
Responding to US President Donald Trump's frustrations about a lack of European assistance in the war, Mark Rutte told Fox News on Wednesday that Rome played a key role by allowing 500 US military aircraft to use Italian air bases.
Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, rejected Rutte's "confusing" account on Thursday. "We did not participate in the conflict with Iran," she said.
During his call with Araghchi, Tajani also firmly rejected Rutte's remarks.
The Italian foreign minister stressed that no Italian military base had been used in any attack on Iran and that no such action would be permitted in the future, IRNA reported.