(Adnkronos) – Italy has hit out at Iran’s “senseless” and “unacceptable attacks in recent days on the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudia Arabia, Bahrain, Turkey, Cyprus and Azerbaijan.
“Iran’s decision to attack countries such as Cyprus, Turkey and other Gulf states, and now Azerbaijan, which had never carried out operations against Tehran, is unacceptable,” Tajan told the lower house of parliament on Thursday.
“These are senseless actions that the Italian government has unreservedly condemned,” Tajani said.
The Iranian drone and missile attacks are reprisals for the extensive strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel on Saturday, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as other top leaders, military commanders and civilians. The attacks on Iran and its retaliation have escalated conflict in the Middle East and sparked fears of a third world war.
In a further widening of the conflict, Iran’s military said on Thursday it had targeted the headquarters of Iranian Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, amid reports that US president Donald Trump wants Iranian Kurdish groups in Iraq to join the fight against Iran and overthrow its clerical rulers in a popular uprising.
Also on Thursday, Azerbaijan vowed to respond after a drone struck an airport in its territory, an attack which Baku blamed entirely on Iran. Iran has denied responsibility for attack on the airport in the Nakhchivan exclave close to the border with Iran, which injured four people.
A day earlier, local media cited the pro-Iran Iraqi militia Saraya Awliya al-Damas as stating that it bombed “a vital target” in Jordan in retaliation for the joint US-Israel strikes which killed Khamenei.
