Dozens of cargo flights and tankers flying from Sigonella and Aviano to military bases in the Gulf

The Meloni government continues to provide logistical assistance to the United States in the Iran war, clearly exposing Italy to possible consequences, as Teheran has already targeted military bases used by the United States in the Gulf region in retaliation for their role in the war, a war which has now widened to include Saudi Arabia.

Just one week after the February 28th US attack on Iran, Il Fatto Quotidiano began revealing, by means of the AirNavRadar commercial flight tracking platform, the logistical assistance the Meloni government had been providing to the United States in the form of dozens of military cargo flights to and from U.S. military bases on Italian soil, Aviano and Sigonella (Sicily), flights allowing the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force to transport weapons or troops or military equipment.

For months, our revelations were met with silence and denials. Only after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte‘s public declarations did the Italian government come clean and admit to such logistical assistance.

Our newspaper can now confirm that this logistical assistance continues. Over the last four weeks, from June 20 to July 25, Il Fatto Quotidiano has tracked at least twelve U.S. Navy cargo flights to and from Sicily to the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia – one of the first military bases targeted by Iran – as well as two cargo flights to the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. One of these two flights to the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan departed on July 17, the same day the base was hit by an Iranian ballistic missile, killing four American soldiers.

In addition, we tracked cargo flights to and from Al Dhafra, a military base hosting US forces in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), targeted by dozens of Iranian drones and missiles, and two cargo flights to Al Minhad in the UAE, also hit by Iran. In total, from the start of the war through July 25th of this year, our newspaper has tracked at least 73 cargo flights between Sigonella and the military bases in the Gulf.

But the flights to and from Sigonella are not cargo flights alone; Il Fatto Quotidiano has also traced at least 3 US Air Forces Boeing KC-135 R Stratotanker flights between June 24 and June 30: this is a tanker aircraft used for the aerial refuelling of bombers and fighter jets.

From Aviano, on the other hand, flights to the Fairford British Royal Air Force base appear to have ceased. The presence of U.S. bombers involved in the war has been documented in Fairford: last April, we revealed at least 23 cargo bombers in just two weeks. And after new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated that, like his predecessor, he will continue allowing the United States to use its bases, Teheran authorities declared they consider those bases as legitimate targets.

This week, a U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-46A Pegasus, a more modern refueling aircraft than the Stratotanker, also departed from Aviano for the Muwaffaq Salti base.

Last week, parliamentarians from the Five Stars party reported that F-16 fighter jets had departed from Aviano, but the AirNavRadar flight tracking platform does not show them.

Is it possible that they flew from Aviano with their transponders switched off? “If they are turned off, obviously that makes tracking them difficult, but it is even more dangerous if they are not traveling in dedicated corridors for doing so”, an analyst who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter, tells Il Fatto Quotidiano. “All it takes is a commercial plane to drift into those lanes or be directed to enter them without ground control knowledge of military aircraft flying ‘blind’ and it could lead to disaster“.

ITALIAN VERSION – Tra Sigonella e Aviano cargo e cisterne americane in volo per il Golfo Persico