Italy Rebuts NATO Chief Mark Rutte Over US Flights Supporting Operation Epic Fury Against Iran

Italy pushed back against NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte after he told Fox News that around 500 US aircraft had departed from American bases in Italy to support "Operation Epic Fury" against Iran.

“Hardly had Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni closed a tense chapter with U”

Al-Jazeera Net

Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto said the government authorised exclusively technical and logistical, non-kinetic activities, and he criticised Rutte for conveying a "totally misleading message" by confusing authorised support flights with combat operations.

Al-Jazeera Net

Italy hosts around 120 US military facilities, including the Sigonella naval air station in Sicily and Aviano Air Base in northern Italy, as the dispute triggered political pressure on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government.

Opposition parties seized on the controversy, with former prime minister Giuseppe Conte calling on Meloni to clarify the issue in parliament and Nicola Fratoianni saying either the government had misled lawmakers or Rutte "has suffered a heatstroke".

A Nato official said Rutte was only highlighting how allies, including Italy, had implemented existing bilateral agreements related to military basing and overflight permissions, after Rutte said European allies had quietly made their bases available for US operations.

In response to the controversy, Italy's government maintained that Rome authorised only technical and logistical flights and not direct combat-related activities, and Crosetto said Italy refused requests that went beyond those limits.

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Le Monde reported that Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, January 21, that he had found the basis for a future agreement with NATO on Greenland and decided not to impose additional customs duties on European countries starting February 1, after a meeting with Mark Rutte.

Le Monde also quoted Trump saying, "We have the framework of an agreement [with the NATO chief, Mark Rutte]."

Le Monde said Trump announced he would not impose duties that were to take effect on February 1, and it reported that he had previously threatened new tariffs until "an agreement is reached for the complete and total sale of Greenland."

“This is one of the U-turns he's famous for”

Le Monde.fr

The same report said Trump ruled out using force to seize Greenland, quoting him: "I will not use force" and "I do not want to use force."

In Brussels, a European Council spokesperson said an extraordinary European Union summit to discuss the response to these threats would be held as planned on Thursday, after Trump’s announcement.

Le Monde also said Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed the reversal, saying, "I welcome President Trump’s announcement to suspend the application of the customs duties planned from February 1 against several European countries."