Giorgia Meloni

Force in Play

Questioning legality of U.S.-Israeli military actions; coordinating Strait protection efforts

Iran's Strait of Hormuz crisis, now in its 59th day, has fractured into a dual blockade with no diplomatic resolution in sight. A Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire announced on April 7–8 briefly reopened the strait and paused U.S. strikes on Iran, but collapsed after 21 hours of failed direct negotiations in Islamabad on April 11–12. The United States responded by launching a full naval blockade of Iran on April 13, barring Iran-linked vessels from Gulf ports. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps immediately answered by re-closing the strait with gunboats on April 18, creating an unprecedented standoff: the U.S. Navy blocking Iran's ports while Iran's mosquito fleet blocks the world's oil. The United Nations estimates roughly 13 million barrels per day are now offline, with up to 9.1 million additional people across Asia at risk of acute food insecurity from fertilizer feedstock shortages. Pentagon officials have told Congress that Iranian naval mines alone will take six months to clear, even as Iran was seen deploying additional mines in late April.

Updated 3 days ago

Force in Play

Attended April 17 Paris summit; Italy 'ready to play its part'; linked Hormuz security to global food security; maintained non-combat conditions

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shut the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, 2026, after US-Israeli strikes — choking off roughly a fifth of global oil supply. A Pakistan-mediated two-week ceasefire agreed around April 8 paused direct hostilities but failed to reopen the strait: Iran charged ships up to $2 million in tolls through an alternate channel north of Larak Island. After the first face-to-face US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad collapsed on April 12 over Iran's refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons program, President Trump announced a naval blockade of all Iranian ports, effective April 13. Then, on April 17, Iran's Foreign Minister declared the strait "completely open" for commercial vessels for the remaining ceasefire period — briefly sending oil prices sharply lower. Within 24 hours, Iran reversed course entirely: the IRGC re-closed the strait on April 18, fired on the VLCC tanker Sanmar Herald approximately 20 nautical miles off Oman, and forced two Indian-flagged ships to turn back, warning that any vessel approaching the strait would be treated as "cooperating with the enemy." Iran cited the continuing US blockade of its ports as a ceasefire violation justifying the re-closure. On April 19, Iran confirmed it had received new US proposals transmitted via Pakistan and said it was reviewing them.

Updated Apr 19

Rule Changes

Summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy in protest

For roughly 270 years, under Ottoman, British, Jordanian, and Israeli rule, a delicate arrangement called the "status quo" has kept worship running at Jerusalem's holiest sites — even through wars and occupations. On Palm Sunday March 29, 2026, Israeli police broke that streak by physically turning away Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the senior Catholic leader in Jerusalem, from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Only four church representatives were trying to enter, walking privately without any procession.

Updated Apr 9

Rule Changes

Concedes referendum defeat as 'lost opportunity'; plans to continue mandate ahead of 2027 elections

Italy's postwar constitution placed judges and prosecutors in a single, self-governing body to prevent a repeat of fascist-era political control over the courts. On March 22-23, 2026, Italian voters rejected a referendum to tear that structure apart, with official results showing 53.23% 'No' against 46.77% 'Yes' on the Nordio Reform to separate judicial and prosecutorial careers, split the governing council, and replace elections with a lottery.

Updated Mar 24

Rule Changes

In office; signed the decree into law

For more than 160 years, anyone who could trace an unbroken bloodline to an Italian ancestor could claim Italian citizenship, no matter how many generations had passed or whether they had ever set foot in Italy. On March 12, 2026, Italy's Constitutional Court upheld a law that ended that principle, capping eligibility at people with an Italian-born parent or grandparent and requiring that ancestor to have held only Italian citizenship. The ruling closes the door on millions of descendants in Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and elsewhere who previously had a legal path to an Italian passport and, with it, the right to live and work anywhere in the European Union.

Updated Mar 14

Force in Play

In office since October 2022

Brazil protected Argentina's embassy in Caracas for 14 months after Nicolás Maduro expelled Argentine diplomats in July 2024. That arrangement ended on January 16, 2026, when Italy assumed custodianship—a shift triggered by Brazil's opposition to the U.S. military operation that captured Maduro two weeks earlier, and accelerated by Argentine President Javier Milei's sustained social media attacks on Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Updated Feb 3