ROME – Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni unleashed her fiercest rebuke yet Wednesday against the U.S.-Israeli campaign in Iran, slamming it as an unlawful unilateral thrust amid a fraying world order.
Speaking to parliament amid opposition jabs at her right-wing cabinet’s restraint toward allies, Meloni diverged from most European peers, who, barring Spain, have urged caution without outright condemnation. Despite her rapport with U.S. President Donald Trump, she insisted Iran must never acquire nuclear arms, warning it would shatter non-proliferation norms with dire fallout for Italy and Europe’s security.
The 12-day-old aerial clashes have choked one-fifth of global oil and gas flows. Meloni framed the strife alongside Russia’s 2022 Ukraine assault as harbingers of systemic turmoil, rife with escalating threats and law-defying moves. “We view the U.S.-Israeli action against Tehran’s regime through this lens of mounting unilateral interventions beyond international law,” she told the Senate.
Rome is supplying air defenses to Gulf states reeling from Iranian barrages, not just as key partners, but to safeguard tens of thousands of Italians there and 2,000 troops stationed in the region.