Ruptly
"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on Friday as part of her surprise Gulf tour. The talks reportedly focused on securing the energy supply disrupted by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The two leaders also discussed defensive military assistance provided by Italy as well as the prospects of the ongoing Middle East war. Meloni's two-day Gulf trip ended with stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, where she also had consultations with the countries' leaders on the region's security and energy imports. This is the first visit of the Italian PM and EU country leader to the region since the conflict broke out on February 28 after the US and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran, despite diplomatic talks aimed at curbing Tehran's ongoing nuclear and missile programmes. Tehran responded with retaliatory strikes on Israeli and US assets in the region, with reports of explosions in several Gulf countries. Tehran also announced a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which handles around 20 per cent of global oil and LNG traffic, triggering huge turmoil in global energy with a sharp price surge. On Saturday, Donald Trump gave Iran a 48-hour 'deadline' to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, or he would 'obliterate' the country's 'power plants', and would start with 'the biggest one first'."
Go to News Site