Iran, Crosetto: 'It is not our war. We need a UN mission decided by parliament"

"Italia is not participating in this war, no European nation is participating in this war, it is not our war. We have every interest, the whole world has an interest that Hormuz should not be involved in this war, because more than 20 per cent of the gas and oil that every day supplies the rest of the world, all the commercial activities, all the life in the rest of the world, passes through that Strait. An international agreement is needed for this to happen. We as Italia would be very happy if there was a mission that brought the whole world together to guarantee the passage of energy to Hormuz. However, it is not a feasible thing to send ships that could be interpreted as participating in war and not in a corridor of peace. The way to create it is to start perhaps with an organisation above the parties like the United Nations'. This was said by Defence Minister Guido Crosetto to Mattino Cinque, who clarified that 'participation in a mission under the UN aegis, whose decision is up to Parliament, would mean acting within a framework of total security'.

 On the issue of Hormuz, the minister added to L'Aria Che Tira, "let's maybe give some strength to the UN. Reviving the UN will perhaps serve to give it more strength in Lebanon, where we need it with Unifil, and also in Ukraine, where we need something multilateral to sit at the table and end that war too. Everyone could agree on this issue. The security of Hormuz is one of the few issues on which there could perhaps be total agreement in the Security Council. The country most affected by what is happening in Iran is China,' Crosetto added.

Regarding the presence of Italian military personnel in the Middle East, the Defence Minister told Sky TG24: "We had already begun to reduce the presence of our military before the war broke out, now we have reduced or brought it to zero. Tonight there was the last exit from Baghdad of the military personnel: there were still special forces who had remained, except for those who protect the embassy because the ambassador wanted to stay in Baghdad. All the others have returned. We are doing the same for those not needed in the other theatres, because the security of our military is the first point, but in coordination with the United States, NATO, Europe, that is, those with whom we are together on a mission'.

"On Italia's energy activated with Venezuela, Indonesia and Africa"

"I think that Italia is taking action through the big companies it has, Eni is one of the biggest companies in the world in the field of energy, it has taken action with Venezuela itself, with African channels, with Asian channels such as Indonesia, to cover the shortfall that could arrive from the closure of Hormuz. But I have to say,' Crosetto continued to Mattino Cinque, 'that European countries and Italia are among the countries least affected by the closure of Hormuz: the oil that reaches us from Hormuz is about 5% of our needs and is easily available. On the other hand, the biggest problem is the liquid gas that arrives from Qatar, which is about 20% of our needs: for us it is not so much a problem of sources of supply as a problem of price'.