The U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, which sparked the latest Middle East crisis, were ​clearly in breach of international law, Italian ‌Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday.

It was the strongest criticism to date from Italy’s right-wing administration, ​which has sought to establish close ​ties with U.S. President Donald Trump since ⁠he took office last year.

The decision to ​launch the strikes last weekend “of course fell outside, ​needless to say, the rules of international law”, Crosetto told the lower house of parliament.

He said Italy ​was being forced to respond to a ​conflict that the United States and Israel had initiated without ‌warning ⁠their allies and partners.

“It is a war that was started without anyone in the world knowing. One in which we, like the ​rest of ​the world, ⁠find ourselves having to manage (the consequences),” said Crosetto, who is a ​member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ​Brothers ⁠of Italy party.

Italy has said it will send air defence aid to Gulf countries and naval assets to Cyprus to help them ​protect against Iranian strikes launched in response to the U.S.-Israeli ​attacks.