Tehran Targets NATO Over Alleged Role in US-Israeli Campaign
Tehran says comments by NATO chief Mark Rutte amount to an admission of European involvement in the campaign against Iran, while Italy rejects any suggestion that its bases were used for combat missions.
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Accusing NATO of "collusion" in the "illegal war of aggression" waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei launched a sharp attack on the alliance on Thursday.
This is a clear and damning admission of NATO’s active complicity in an unlawful war of aggression against a sovereign UN Member State — a flagrant violation of peremptory norms of international law and the core principles of the UN Charter.
— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) June 25, 2026
The Organization and its individual… pic.twitter.com/q2OPKVrSkM
Baghaei was reacting to remarks made by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in an interview with Fox News, in which he said that "500 American aircraft took off from U.S. bases in Italy" to support the attack carried out by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28.
Rutte also revealed that Bucharest Airport reduced the number of commercial flights to make room for refueling aircraft involved in the operation, adding that between 4,000 and 5,000 American planes departed from bases across Europe during the war.
In a post on X, Baghaei said: "This is a clear and compelling acknowledgment of NATO's active collusion in an illegal aggressive war against a sovereign UN member state."
He further noted that Rutte had "explicitly referred to Italy and Romania as participants in the aggression against Iran."
Baghaei added: "These two countries, along with all other European states that supported the American-Israeli aggression against Iran, must explain to their people and to the world why they chose to be complicit in this outrageous act of aggression and in the mass atrocities committed against the Iranian people."
On Wednesday, the Italian Ministry of Defense condemned Rutte's remarks, describing them as having conveyed a "completely misleading message." The ministry stressed that Rome had only authorized the United States to use its bases for technical and logistical flights, not for combat operations.