Meloni pushed back on Thursday, saying Rutte was incorrectly implying that flights from Italy were used in direct attacks on Iran in his eagerness 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,” Meloni told reporters during a 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.
The Italian prime minister has clashed with Trump over recent days, with the American president pointedly slamming her for refusing access to Italian bases for U.S. bombers.
She reiterated that Italy only allowed bases to be used for logistical and technical operations.
Meloni said she had no clue why Rutte gave this “oversimplified account.”