Tehran: Iran on Thursday accused NATO of being "complicit" in the US-Israeli war against the country after the alliance’s chief acknowledged support provided to the United States during the conflict.
The remarks came after US President Donald Trump criticised allies for not backing the war. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told Fox News that hundreds of American aircraft had been launched from bases in Italy in support of the US military operation.
"Country after country, ally after ally after ally, have made their bases available for Epic Fury," Rutte told the US television channel, referring to the American operation in Iran.
"Five hundred US planes took off from US bases in Italy to support Epic Fury," he said.
Trump’s second term has been marked by tensions with NATO allies, many of whom have expressed scepticism over the need for the conflict in the Middle East. Trump told Rutte on Wednesday that he was "let down" by alliance members who did not support the war against Iran.
Rutte also said that Romania had reduced commercial air traffic because airports were needed for tanker facilities during the Iran war.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned what he described as NATO’s admission of "active complicity" in an "unlawful war".
"This is a clear and damning admission of NATO’s active complicity in an unlawful war of aggression against a sovereign UN Member State," Baqaei wrote on X.
He accused NATO of committing "a flagrant violation of peremptory norms of international law and the core principles of the UN Charter."
Meanwhile, Italy moved quickly to distance itself from Rutte’s remarks, with the Defence Ministry saying they created "a completely misleading message by confusing the type of flights that were authorised."
Italy said it had permitted only "technical and logistical" US flights during Epic Fury under existing agreements with the United States.