Italy won’t join US-Israeli attacks on Iran, says PM Meloni

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday that her country will not participate in the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, and is instead seeking to help with a diplomatic resolution, according to a Bloomberg report.

“Italy isn’t taking part and won’t take part” in the ongoing war in Iran, Meloni told lawmakers on Wednesday, saying the expanding conflict is part of a broader “crisis of international law.” She said the Iran crisis was one of the most complex moments in recent history, and called on the opposition to rally with the government in defence of Italian interests.

She said Italy worked with Qatar and Oman to try and prevent military intervention before the war. And she added that Italy has long kept lines open with Tehran, hosting two rounds of nuclear talks last year.

Read: Iran's IRGC identifies Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle as its new targets

Meloni also said the government could take action on companies speculating as energy prices spike over the war. She reiterated that the government was ready to further tax the firms involved, without giving details.

The Italian prime minister's remarks come as the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict rages on. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim news agency released a list on Wednesday of offices and infrastructure run by top US companies with Israeli links whose technology has been used for military applications, describing them as “Iran’s new targets”.

“As the scope of the regional war expands to infrastructure war, the scope of Iran’s legitimate targets expands,” it said. These companies include Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle, and the listed offices and infrastructure for cloud-based services are located in multiple Israeli cities, as well as in some Gulf countries.

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The US and Israel have continued to strike the Islamic Republic. On Tuesday, the US said it was striking Iranian ships ships capable of mining the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial passageway for oil that has been effectively closed by Iranian threats.

Meanwhile, Israel also launched new waves of strikes both in Beirut and Tehran, where residents hunkered down after being smothered by black rain from Israeli bombing of fuel depots.

On Wednesday morning, Israeli strikes across Lebanon killed 16 and wounded 26, according to Anadolu Agency. Additionally, an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential apartment in the Aisha Bakkar area of Beirut, causing destruction.

In response, the Islamic Republic has continued to unleash strikes around the region, with the government saying on Wednesday that it carried out its own "most intense and heaviest" salvo. It has also defiantly stated that it is not seeking a ceasefire.