Italy’s defence minister stranded in Gulf as Middle East conflict sparks political row

 ROME – Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto found himself caught up in the Middle East crisis after being stranded in Dubai with his family when flights were suspended following the joint American and Israeli attack on Iran, triggering a political storm back home and an embarrassing diplomatic exchange with his own foreign minister. 

 

 Crosetto had flown from Rome on Friday afternoon, leaving at around 3p.m. on a civilian flight to collect his wife and children, who were already in Dubai on holiday. He was due to return the following day, but the sudden closure of airspace over Iran, Iraq, and Israel, and the mass cancellation of flights that followed, left him grounded along with thousands of other Italian tourists and residents in the Emirates. 

 

 The situation was apparently resolved when Crosetto crossed into Oman, where airspace remained open, and was collected by a unit of the Omani Defence Ministry before boarding a military aircraft back to Italy. He confirmed his departure in a post on X, writing that he was returning alone so as not to expose others travelling with him to unnecessary risk. “I will leave my family here, who understand the choice,” he wrote, adding that he had continued to manage the crisis remotely using all the technical tools available to him. 

 

 In a pointed aside aimed at pre-empting criticism over the use of a state aircraft, Crosetto said he had voluntarily paid three times the standard guest rate for the flight. “I want to remove possibility of being criticised for returning on a state flight,” he wrote.  

 

 The minister’s tone sharpened as he addressed the political attacks that had followed Il Fatto Quotidiano’s revelation of his presence in Dubai on Saturday afternoon, calling the attacks “shameful”. He argued that the UAE had been excluded from Iranian retaliation during the previous crisis, and that Dubai airport had remained open throughout, meaning that there was little reason to anticipate this time would be different. 

 

 Crosetto also insisted that his presence in the country had proved useful, saying it had aided crisis management and relations with Emirati authorities, and that he had held discussions with European and Middle Eastern counterparts as well as a planned phone call with the Pentagon.  

 

 The episode produced an awkward moment for Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who appeared unaware that Crosetto was already on his way back when asked about his colleague’s situation. “I hope he returns before March 7,” Tajani said – the date UAE airspace was scheduled to reopen – adding that he had not personally known Crosetto was in Dubai. 

 

 Tajani did, however, announce that he had established a dedicated task force to look after Italian citizens living, working, or on holiday in Gulf countries affected by the conflict, with consular assistance made available to nationals stranded across the region. 

 

 The Five Star Movement (M5S) has said it would submit a parliamentary question over the situation. “We want to know how it is possible that the Italian defence minister – a senior figure in one of Nato’s most important member states – came to be stranded in Dubai because of airspace closures triggered by the attacks on Iran,” said Riccardo Ricciardi, the party’s leader in the Chamber of Deputies, in a joint statement with M5S MP Arnaldo Lomuti. 

 “This episode is staggering. It lays bare the Meloni government’s complete irrelevance on the world stage - a government that was apparently kept in the dark even on something as significant as the outbreak of a war. If they couldn’t be warned that missiles were about to fly over their heads, how are we supposed to believe they can sit at the table with Trump and negotiate on gas prices, defence spending and tariffs?”

 

 Fratelli d’Italia hit back. MP Mauro Malaguti said that instead of wishing Crosetto a swift and safe return, as any decent person would hope for a fellow citizen, the Five Star parliamentarians had chosen to manufacture a political attack. “What else could one expect from a party that routinely shows disrespect to others, even in parliamentary debates,” he said. 

 

 This has unfolded against a backdrop of fear among the many Italians caught in Dubai as Iranian missiles struck targets across the region, including The Palm. Ginevra Marmo, an Italian working in Abu Dhabi, described the moment the conflict arrived without warning while she was poolside at the Sky Address hotel. “People started running inside. We were terrified,” she said.