Italy denies US warplanes landing

TT

Updated 10.51 | Published 10.38

 

American planes parked at the NATO base Sigonella in Sicily, Italy, before the Iran war. Archive photo. Photo: Carmelo Imbesi/AP/TT

American warplanes heading to the Middle East are not allowed to stopover at a base in Sicily, Italy announced according to Corriere della Sera.

The denial risks fueling tensions with the US, the newspaper writes, recalling that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that after the Iran war, the US could be forced to reevaluate its relationship with the NATO defense alliance.

The announcement came after Italy received a travel plan from the US, without Washington DC consulting Italian authorities, and when the warplanes were already in the air, according to the newspaper.

Since the plane in question was neither on a logistics or routine mission, the flight was considered to be outside the bilateral agreement between the countries, and a stopover was therefore denied.

The move comes the day after Spain's Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced that the country's airspace is closed to American aircraft participating in the Iran war.

The Spanish government has previously been among Europe's most critical of Israel's war in Gaza, and now describes the Iran war as illegal.