Italy, allies send warships to protect Europe’s southeastern edge from Iran strikes

ROME — Italy will send a naval vessel or vessels to protect Cyprus from further Iranian attacks “in the next few days,” Italy’s defense minister said on Thursday.

“With Spain, France and Holland, we will send naval assets to protect Cyprus in the next few days,” Guido Crosetto told Italy’s parliament in a statement.

An Italian navy vessel able to reach Cyprus quickly would be the Spartaco Schergat, a FREMM frigate which is off the coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean and is due to conclude its involvement in the NATO Dynamic Manta exercise on Friday. It will however need to return to base in Sicily for refueling before a mission to Cyprus.

One defense official, who declined to be named, said a better option would however be one of Italy’s larger Horizon-class destroyers, given their longer range radar. The challenge is their location: The Andrea Doria is off the coast of Norway while the Caio Duilio is undergoing regular maintenance at La Spezia in Italy.

Nations sending vessels to Cyprus would not necessarily need to operate under one national command but could cooperate, the official said.

Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, to discuss security in the Gulf and Cyprus, her office said.

Macron announced Tuesday that he ordered the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group, deployed to northern Europe for exercises, to the Mediterranean.

The move comes as the war in Iran risks spilling over to Europe’s southeastern edge. For example, RAF Akrotiri, a British military base in southern Cyprus that has previously served as as a hub for U.S. and U.K. Middle East aerial operations, was targeted by Iranian strike drones this week.

Close Cyprus ally Greece has already sent two frigates to the island.

The French naval strike group is scheduled to arrive in the Mediterranean late this week or early next week, French Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin told RTL radio on Thursday.

The Spanish frigate Cristóbal Colón has already joined the Charles the Gaulle formation on its way to Cyprus, Spanish defense officials said Thursday.

“The ‘Cristóbal Colón’ is our most technologically advanced frigate. Its mission in the Mediterranean will be to offer protection and air defense, thus complementing the capabilities of our Patriot battery deployed in Turkey,” reads a Spanish ministry of defense statement. “It will also be on standby to support any evacuation of civilian personnel who may be affected by the conflict.”

Meanwhile, the British Type 45 destroyer Dragon, announced by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer as the chosen ship to help secure the country’s Cyprus base, was still being readied for the snap deployment on Wednesday, the BBC reported .

Fresh out of maintenance, the ongoing loading of ammunition means the Dragon will likely be stuck in Portsmouth until next week, according to the report.

The Dutch frigate Evertsen is also part of the group of ships heading to the Mediterranean, but defense officials in the Netherlands have yet to decide what the vessel will be tasked to do once there.

German defense officials appear to be in no rush to consider sending ships supporting a naval Cyprus protection mission in response to the Iran war fallout, though chancellor Merz has said Berlin would assist “in preventative measures.”

Regional assistance and NATO defense plans for the region currently add up to a sufficient degree of preparedness, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

Meloni said on Thursday that Italy would be sending air defense systems to protect Gulf states. “Italy, like the U.K., France and Germany, aim to send help to the Gulf states, and we clearly talking about air defense,” she said.

Speculation is mounting in Italy that Rome will send a Samp-T air defense system.

Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris and Linus Höller in Berlin contributed to this report.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

罗马——意大利国防部长周四表示，意大利将在“未来几天内”派遣一艘或多艘海军舰艇保护塞浦路斯免受伊朗的进一步袭击。

“未来几天，我们将与西班牙、法国和荷兰一起派遣海军力量保护塞浦路斯，”吉多·克罗塞托在意大利议会发表声明说。

意大利海军能够迅速抵达塞浦路斯的舰艇是“斯巴达科·谢尔加特”号（Spartaco Schergat），这是一艘FREMM护卫舰，目前位于地中海西西里岛附近海域，将于周五结束其参与的北约“动态蝠鲼”演习。不过，在前往塞浦路斯执行任务之前，它需要返回西西里岛基地进行加油。

一位不愿透露姓名的国防官员表示，更好的选择是意大利更大的“地平线”级驱逐舰，因为它们的雷达探测范围更远。问题在于它们的停泊位置：“安德烈亚·多利亚”号目前位于挪威海岸附近，而“卡约·杜伊利奥”号正在意大利拉斯佩齐亚进行例行维护。

这位官员表示，向塞浦路斯派遣船只的国家不一定需要在同一国家指挥部下行动，但可以进行合作。

意大利总理乔治娅·梅洛尼的办公室表示，梅洛尼周四与法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙通了电话，讨论了海湾地区和塞浦路斯的安全问题。

马克龙周二宣布，他已下令部署在北欧进行演习的“戴高乐”号航母打击群前往地中海。

此举正值伊朗战争有可能蔓延至欧洲东南部之际。例如，位于塞浦路斯南部、曾作为美英中东空中行动枢纽的英国皇家空军阿克罗蒂里基地，本周遭到伊朗无人机袭击。

塞浦路斯的亲密盟友希腊已经向该岛派遣了两艘护卫舰。

法国武装部队部长凯瑟琳·沃特兰周四告诉RTL电台，法国海军打击群计划于本周晚些时候或下周初抵达地中海。

西班牙国防官员周四表示，西班牙护卫舰“克里斯托瓦尔·科隆”号已经加入前往塞浦路斯的“戴高乐”号编队。

西班牙国防部在一份声明中表示：“‘克里斯托瓦尔·科隆’号是我们技术最先进的护卫舰。它在地中海的任务是提供保护和防空，从而补充我们部署在土耳其的‘爱国者’导弹系统的能力。它还将随时待命，支持撤离任何可能受冲突影响的平民人员。”

与此同时，据英国广播公司报道，英国首相基尔·斯塔默宣布选定的英国45型驱逐舰“龙”号将协助保卫英国在塞浦路斯的基地，该舰仍在为周三的紧急部署做准备。

报道称，由于刚刚完成维护，且仍在进行弹药装填，龙式坦克很可能要到下周才能离开朴茨茅斯港。

荷兰护卫舰“埃弗森”号也是前往地中海的舰艇编队的一部分，但荷兰国防官员尚未决定该舰抵达后将执行什么任务。

尽管德国总理默茨表示柏林将协助“采取预防措施”，但德国国防官员似乎并不急于考虑派遣舰艇支援塞浦路斯海军保护任务，以应对伊朗战争的后果。

一位政府发言人周三表示，目前该地区的区域援助和北约防御计划加起来足以达到足够的准备程度。

梅洛尼周四表示，意大利将向海湾国家派遣防空系统。“意大利与英国、法国和德国一样，都希望向海湾国家提供援助，我们所说的援助显然是指防空系统，”她说道。

意大利国内越来越多的猜测认为，罗马将向意大利派遣一套Samp-T防空系统。

巴黎的 Rudy Ruitenberg 和柏林的 Linus Höller 对本报道亦有贡献。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。