PM Meloni says decision prompted by situation in Middle East; Italy no longer cooperating on military training
\n rome
\nItaly\u2019s government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of a defence cooperation deal with Israel, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday, citing the conflicts in the Middle East.
\nMeloni\u2019s right-wing government has been one of Israel\u2019s closest allies in Europe, but in recent weeks has criticised Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Those affected have included Italian troops serving there under a United Nations mandate.
\n\u201cIn light of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel,\u201d Meloni was quoted as saying in Verona, nothern Italy, by Italian news agencies.
\nA defence ministry source said one of the consequences is that Italy will no longer cooperate with Israel on military training.
\nMeloni took the decision on Monday with her foreign and defence ministers, Antonio Tajani and Guido Crosetto, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
\nA spokesperson for Israel\u2019s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
\nAlong with Meloni, British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves also said on Tuesday that she was \u201cvery frustrated \u200cand angry\u201d over what she said was the United \u200bStates\u2019 failure to have \u200ba clear exit plan or objectives for the war \u200bin Iran, according to \u200bThe Mirror newspaper.
\n\u201cThis is a war that we did not start. \u200bIt was a war \u200bthat we did not want. I \u200cfeel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a \u200bclear \u200bexit plan, without a clear idea of what \u200bthey were trying to \u200bachieve,\u201d Reeves told the newspaper.
\n\u201cAnd as a result, the Strait \u200bof Hormuz is \u200bnow blocked,\u201d she added.
\nItaly and Britain are part of several NATO countries that have resisted supporting the US military campaign against Iran, denying US military planes use of their airspace or declining to send naval forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz for energy tankers. This has prompted verbal onslaughts from US President Donald Trump, who has called the alliance a \u201cpaper tiger\u201d.
\nFurther, when asked whether he would reconsider US membership in the alliance after the conflict, Trump said the issue was \u201cbeyond reconsideration\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PM Meloni says decision prompted by situation in Middle East; Italy no longer cooperating on military training rome Italy\u2019s government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of a defence cooperation deal with Israel, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday, citing the conflicts in the Middle East. Meloni\u2019s right-wing government has been one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-541856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n