Meloni turns against Trump and Israel’s war in Iran

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is increasingly distancing herself from the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

The right-wing leader issued her strongest rebuke of the conflict so far in remarks to the parliament in Rome on Wednesday, describing the military campaign unfolding in the Middle East as part of a growing trend of interventions “outside the scope of international law.”

Earlier in the week, Meloni had struck a more ambiguous note, saying she neither condemned nor agreed with the war.

The brisk shift in tone — striking from a leader who built a reputation as one of Europe’s most-reliable U.S. allies — is a reflection of pressures closer to home.

Airstrikes on Iran have proved deeply unpopular in Italy, where public opinion is overwhelmingly hostile toward the prospect of being drawn into another Middle East conflict.

And with the government approaching a politically sensitive referendum about judicial reforms, which has increasingly become a plebiscite on Meloni’s coalition, the prime minister now faces the delicate task of maintaining her transatlantic alliances while also responding to domestic strains.

Meloni appears to be unmistakably, yet cautiously, repositioning herself on the side of restraint. In her remarks, she condemned the bombing of a girls’ school that killed 168 people as a “massacre,” and requested responsibility be ascertained swiftly. Multiple media outlets have reported the school was probably hit by a U.S. strike on a neighboring Iranian naval base.

Meloni now joins EU leaders including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten in criticizing — with varying degrees of vigorousness — the strikes against Iran.

She also sought to compare her stance on joint-use U.S.-Italian bases with that of Sánchez, who has openly condemned the war and has been praised by the Italian opposition.

The question of whether U.S. forces could use joint bases in Italy to support strikes on Iran has become an especially sensitive domestic matter. Meloni has insisted that the bases are only being used for logistical and technical purposes under agreements signed in the 1950s — not for launching strikes — as the use of Italian air bases for military strikes would require explicit authorization from parliament.

Meloni said her and Sánchez’s positions — that bases won’t be used for launching strikes on Iran, for example — are being perceived differently despite being the same.

“It amazes me that the same people [Italy’s opposition] condemn this decision in our nation and praise it in Spain,” she said.