The crisis in the Middle East

Crosetto: 'I may have been wrong as a minister to stay in Dubai but my children were there'

Crosetto returns from Dubai without his family: 'State flight but I pay triple for choice'. The Defence Minister posts the announcement on X and replies to M5S attacks: 'I take no lessons from anyone in sense of state and institutions'

by Rome Editorial Staff

1 March 2026

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Back without family
Military flight but transfer of three times the amount
Reply to attacks
Crisis management

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto returns to Italia from Dubai, where he leaves his family.

The announcement comes via a post on X: 'I am returning to Italia continuing to manage since yesterday the delicate situation with all the technical tools necessary to do so abroad'.

Il post su X

"I may have been wrong as a minister to stay in Dubai but my children were there."

'I made it public that I went to Dubai and being stranded was my choice. But I chose to stay in Dubai, I may have made a mistake as a minister and I apologise, because I had my two children and I wanted to stay there': this is how Defence Minister Guido Crosetto responds to a number of speeches in committee addressing the case that saw him stranded in Dubai during the initial phase of the attack on Iran.

Returning without family

"I will, as a matter of course, return alone, to avoid exposure to further dangers to others who may be put at risk by travelling with me under current conditions. I will obviously do so in a military aircraft (a Gulfstream g550) and I will leave my family here (who understand the choice), after making sure that for them, as for other Italian and foreign citizens, there are no significant risks other than those of nefarious chance.

I continue to work, for them as for others, to find a quick and safe solution in full support of the Farnesina crisis unit'.

Military flight but transfer of a triple amount

Crosetto explained that he would return 'using a military flight, but after having reclaimed (an hour ago) from the Command of the 31st flight at Ciampino an amount three times (by my own choice) that provided for guests on State flights, so as to also remove the possibility of attacking me by saying that I returned using a State flight'.

The response to the M5S attacks

Crosetto responded to the attacks that came from the opposition and in particular from the M5S, which went so far as to ask for his resignation: 'I find this way of polemics shameful and low, and I would like to reassure you that I do not take lessons from anyone in terms of sense of State and institutions, and even less so in terms of quantity of commitment and dedication to the institution. On quality others will say.

I do not think one can instrumentalise a situation created by events, the attack on Dubai, that were not considered among the hypotheses of the Iranian response, in the timing and manner in which they occurred and materialised, precisely because in the last crisis, more violent than this one, the Emirates were excluded from the reaction and Dubai airport remained open'.

Crisis Management

Crosetto added that his presence in Dubai 'has been useful in managing the ongoing crisis and relations with the Emirates. As were the talks with my European and Middle Eastern colleagues today and the one I will have with the Pentagon late this evening'.