"We are proposing, together with France and Germany, a mission that can guarantee the safety of maritime traffic. I
hope that
the mission can already be definitively approved in the next Foreign Affairs Council after a substantial green light in today's meeting"
.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Brussels, adding that for Italy the mission in the Red Sea "may also include" the Emasoh/Agenor mission in the Strait of Hormuz.
"The mission involves having a defense system which in my opinion must be strong, therefore capable of shooting down drones and missiles launched by the Houthis. I
don't think the European mission foresees attacks on Yemeni territory
because it has never happened but there will be protection very strong military, determined and I hope with all the necessary tools", explained the Italian vice prime minister.
To reporters who asked whether the naval mission in the Red Sea could not be seen as a military intervention in the area, Tajani explained that it is "a military intervention to defend Italian merchant ships, there is a collapse in merchant traffic, we are an exporting country and we have the duty to defend our ships.
We are not waging war on anyone but defending our ships is a duty of the Republic and the government".
"It will be a reinforced defense of the merchant ships, without active participation for the moment, in which case a new vote of Parliament would be needed.
But the use of force will be foreseen to defend the merchant ships
. It will not be a simple accompaniment, as the mission that foresees today there is in Hormuz. Our idea is that there is a strong defense of the merchant ships, with the shooting down of any weapon that hits the ships passing from Suez to Hormuz", added Tajani.
On the mission - he added - "we will inform Parliament, as things are it is not mandatory but naturally we will inform it".
"I have already informed, in the debates that have taken place, on several occasions, what our intentions are, and from my next presence in Parliament I will say what we are doing. It is
right that Parliament is informed but the military mission has already been authorized, it is the one in the Strait of Hormuz
," he explained.
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