Iran Threatens European Bases, Naming Italy Among Targets

Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, a member of Iran's parliamentary security committee, told Euronews on Wednesday that Iran would target any European base used against it, including installations in Italy and Germany. The threat comes amid escalating tensions between Iran and the United States, and reflects Tehran's strategy of extending its deterrent calculus beyond the Middle East and into the European theatre. State-run Iranian media framed any such confrontation as capable of reaching "the heart of Europe," according to Euronews's reporting.

Italy hosts significant NATO infrastructure and serves as a logistics hub for Western military operations in the Mediterranean and beyond. The country is home to the Naval Support Activity base at Gaeta, air force facilities, and other defence installations that would be critical to any NATO response to Iranian action. Ardestani's explicit naming of Italy signals that Tehran is calculating the cost of European involvement in any future escalation—a signal aimed not only at Rome but at other European governments weighing their exposure to Iranian retaliation.