ROME: Italy will not send any ships to help police the Hormuz Strait area following a ceasefire between the US and Iran unless it is authorized by the UN, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday.
“It is not on the agenda. We have already said that we will not send ships unless there is a United Nations initiative,” Salvini, who is also infrastructure minister in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s conservative government, told reporters.
The Hormuz disruption has led some, including Salvini’s far-right League party, to call on Europe to consider resuming energy purchases from Russia, which were cut off in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
However, Salvini backtracked on that position, saying it would not be feasible as long as the war in Ukraine continued.
“I hope that a time will soon come when it will be possible to speak about reconstruction and cooperation, including partnerships and energy, once the conflict with Russia has ended,” he told the Foreign Press Association in Italy.
Like other NATO allies reluctant to back US President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran, Italy last week denied permission for US military aircraft to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily en route to the Middle East.
Salvini dismissed suggestions that mounting disagreements between Washington and European capitals could lead the US to disengage from Europe.
“I don’t believe there is any imminent issue regarding NATO troop withdrawals from Europe,” he said.
