(Adnkronos) – The inclusion of Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni on a hit-list of targets in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatatollah Ali Khamenei is “unacceptable,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.
“This is unacceptable, it is an unbelievable attack,” said Tajani, referring to a list published at the weekend by conservative daily Hamshahri, which is close to Iran’s hard-line government.
The list featured Meloni and other world leaders wearing orange jumpsuits, including US president Donald Trump, Israel’s premier Benjamin Netanyahu, British prime minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and defence secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Italy’s not fighting against Iran. We do not understand the rationale behind this attack on Italy. We support democracy, we support peace, but we also support freedom of navigation,” Tajani went on, speaking on the sidlines of a European Union foreign affairs council meeting in Brussels.
“Blocking the Strait of Hormuz is a colossal mistake,” Tajani said, referring to the vial route for the world’s oil supplies, whose effctive blockade by Iran has driven up energy prices and fuelled concern about global inflation.
“There should be no restrictions on this stretch of sea near the Gulf. This freedom of navigation is crucial for us. It is a key issue,” Tajani concluded.
The EU foreign affairs council meeting was due to focus primarily on Russia’s over-four-year-old war in Ukraine, but will also devote “ample space” to the situation in the Middle East, said a foreign ministry statement.
At the meeting, Tajani was due to reaffirm “Italy’s support for the continuation of dialogue between the United States and Iran, the full restoration of unrestricted freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement said.
