Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stand for the playing of the U.S. and Italian national anthems prior to a bilateral meeting at the Pentagon on June 15, 2026. Italian backlash was swift after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Fox News that some 500 U.S. military flights had taken off from bases in Italy in support of the Iran war. (Alexander Kubitza/U.S. Navy)
VICENZA, Italy — Italian defense officials are disputing the NATO chief’s assertion this week that numerous American military flights took off from air bases in Italy as part of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
Appearing Tuesday on Fox News ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that some 500 U.S. flights had taken off from bases in Italy in support of the campaign, known as Operation Epic Fury.
In response, the Italian Defense Ministry expressed surprise that Rutte, “who has nothing to do with Operation Epic Fury,” would make such “completely misleading” remarks that confused the types of authorized flights from the bases in Italy.
“Italy only authorizes flights that are provided for by the treaties and totally exclude kinetic activities,” said the statement, which Italian journalist Marco Di Fonzo shared on X.
In military parlance, “kinetic” refers to combat activity or the use of lethal force, such as airstrikes.
“Only technical and logistical, nonkinetic activities were authorized within the procedures established by existing agreements,” the statement said. “Whenever a request outside this scope was made, as is well-known, Italy did not grant authorization.”
After the war began in late February, the Italian government denied the U.S. permission to use Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily for warplanes traveling to conduct strikes in Iran, saying such use was beyond what existing bilateral agreements allowed.
However, Italian media and flight tracking sites have reported that U.S. surveillance drones, maritime patrol aircraft and refueling tankers had taken off from Sigonella toward the Middle East, likely in support of the Iran war.
Rutte’s comments became a lightning rod for politicians in Rome this week, with members of opposition parties saying they contradict earlier Italian government statements. Some have demanded that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni report to parliament.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto briefed parliament in April on the U.S. military’s use of Italian bases, saying that “respecting the agreements does not mean being involved in a war,” according to a translation of a report by Italy’s RAI News.
“We are part of NATO; we are not at war with Iran,” Crosetto said.
In a post analyzing how Italy’s bases were used to support the war, the site ItaMilRadar said this week that Navy MQ-4C Triton surveillance drones from Sigonella “conducted extensive intelligence and reconnaissance missions over the Persian Gulf area” before the Triton operations appeared to shift to Jordan in April.
Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft operated from the base before and during the war, and several deployed to Djibouti to support U.S. naval forces in the Indian Ocean, according to the site.
It uses publicly available flight tracking data and other information to monitor and analyze military activity over Italy and the Mediterranean Sea.
U.S. aircraft also transited through or deployed to the Middle East from Aviano Air Base, and at least one Navy warship appears to have docked at a NATO pier in Sicily, likely to resupply while conducting regional security operations linked to the U.S.-Israeli campaign, the site said.
Despite such missions, Trump has lambasted Italy and other European countries, saying many NATO allies didn’t do enough to support the U.S. in the war. Recently Trump has directed his ire at Meloni after the two were seen chatting at the G7 summit in France last week.
Rutte sought to downplay the rift between the allies on either side of the Atlantic, framing the instances that have disappointed Trump as “isolated cases.”
In his Fox News appearance, he highlighted the number of flights from Italy as part of the 4,000 to 5,000 sorties that he said took off from European bases to support the war.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said Thursday that Rutte’s comments about the Italy flights were referring to logistics or technical support.
“The secretary general highlighted how allies, including Italy, carried out their existing bilateral agreements in the context of basing and overflights,” Hart said.
