Iran on Thursday said NATO member states Italy and Romania should be held accountable for supporting the US-Israeli military campaign against Tehran, citing remarks by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that the two countries had assisted the operation.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei made the remarks in a post on X after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reportedly identified Italy and Romania as countries that had supported military operations against Iran.

“Italy and Romania are explicitly named by NATO’s secretary general as having participated in the aggression against Iran,” Baghaei said.

He alleged that the two countries, along with other European states that assisted the US-Israeli campaign, should explain their actions to the international community and their own citizens, accusing them of involvement in attacks on several Iranian cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Hamadan and Bandar Abbas.

Baghaei’s comments came after Rutte told Fox News that Italy had allowed hundreds of US military aircraft to operate from bases on its territory, while Romania had restricted commercial air traffic from Bucharest to facilitate American military operations against Iran.

The Iranian spokesman described the remarks as a “clear and damning admission” of NATO’s involvement in what he called an unlawful war against a sovereign state and said both the alliance and participating member states should be held responsible for the consequences.

“The organisation and its individual member states that participated in such decision-making must be held accountable for all the consequences,” he said.

The conflict began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched air strikes against Iran.

Tehran says the attacks targeted senior Iranian officials and military commanders.

Iran maintains that its military response and its control over the Strait of Hormuz helped force its adversaries to accept a ceasefire more than a month later.

Iran and the United States subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding on July 17 aimed at permanently ending hostilities and paving the way for further negotiations on a comprehensive agreement within 60 days.