Iran is striking Gulf countries, while Meloni talks about Ukraine: Italy is reframing the Middle East escalation into a convenient narrative of a “rules-free peace”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that the escalation of Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries is allegedly linked to a “crisis of international law” which, in her words, stems from Russia’s war against Ukraine.

ANSA reported this.

“When a UN Security Council member deliberately attacked a neighbor, it was inevitable that this would lead to a period of chaos,” ANSA quotes her as saying.

However, this linkage looks more like a political talking point than a proven cause-and-effect chain: different conflicts and different motives in the region are folded into a convenient general formula about “rules collapsing,” which simplifies the picture and blurs the responsibility of the specific actors involved in the current escalation.

Meloni urged Tehran to immediately stop strikes on Gulf states, calling them “absolutely unjustified,” and said de-escalation is unlikely unless Iran halts its offensive. According to Reuters, the strikes hit all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman—targeting ports, oil infrastructure, and cities hosting U.S. bases.

The UAE reportedly suffered the greatest damage: in the first 48 hours, 165 missiles were launched and around 600 drones were used. At least six people were killed, more than 100 were injured—many of them migrant workers.

Rome focused on practical risks: Meloni held emergency meetings on the safety of Italians in the region and the crisis’s impact on energy markets, and also spoke by phone with Gulf leaders and key EU partners. Overall, her stance sounds like an attempt to fit the crisis into a single narrative of a “world without rules,” but that framing leaves more questions than answers—and replaces concrete regional analysis with loud geopolitical rhetoric.