Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and USA President Donald Trump during the welcome ceremony at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkiye on July 8, 2026. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
ANKARA, Turkey — Despite being singled out for sharp criticism by US President Donald Trump at the NATO Summit, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni doubled down on her government’s refusal to let Washington use bases for military operations in the war against Iran.
“For the bases, it’s not as though we’ve been changing course from one day to the next — we’ve had a very clear line since the beginning of the conflict in Iran, and we are maintaining that,” the prime minister told reporters on the closing night of the summit here in Ankara, after the US had restarted its bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic. “We are not participating in attacks against Iran, and we will not participate in attacks against Iran.”
In March, at the opening of hostilities, Rome reportedly denied a request from the US military to land an aircraft at the Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily before it was expected to fly to the Middle East.
The use of military infrastructure by American troops in Italy is governed by bilateral defense agreements established over 50 years ago that allow them to use certain facilities, but only under strict guidelines. Under Italian law, these are described as technical authorizations that grant permission for logistical purposes, generally pertain to non-kinetic activities, and are assessed on a case-by-case basis.
