Italy turns away Middle East-bound US military aircraft from Sicily stopover

ROME — U.S. military aircraft heading from the United States to the Middle East have been refused permission to stop off at an air base in Italy, an Italian government source has told Defense News.

The request to land at Sigonella air base in Sicily was issued to Italian authorities after the aircraft had already taken off from the U.S., Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday.

Italy has a longstanding deal with the U.S. to allow it to use Sigonella for regular military flights, while permission for use of the base by flights not covered by the agreement must be granted by the Italian parliament.

In a speech to parliament this month, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, “The bases used by the U.S. in Italy derive from agreements signed in 1954 and which have been updated since then by various governments. According to those agreements there are technical authorizations when it comes to logistics and non-kinetic operations that do not involve, put simply, bombing.”

She added that for any other kind of use of bases, “it depends on parliament.”

Since permission to land was requested by the U.S. after the jets took off from the United States, there was no time for such authorization to be obtained, the source said.

A statement issued by Meloni’s office on Tuesday said, “Every request is examined attentively, case by case, as has always happened in the past. There are no crises or frictions with international partners. Relations with the U.S., specifically, are solid and characterized by full and loyal cooperation.”

The refusal does however come in the wake of growing unease over the Iran war in the Italian government led by Meloni, who has previously positioned herself as a faithful ally to American President Donald Trump in Europe.

Meloni is playing a balancing act since she is keen not to alienate the majority of Italian voters who oppose the Iran war.

“We are not at war and we do not want to enter the war,” Meloni told Italy’s parliament earlier this month. She has also called the U.S. attack on Iran “outside the perimeter of international law.”

Spain has previously denied use of its bases to U.S. jets heading to Iran, incurring the anger of President Trump, who threatened to cut trade with Spain.

On Monday, Spain went further, closing its airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the Iran war.

“Neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorized for any actions related to the war in Iran,” Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said, adding the war was ”profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust."