Overview
- Italy’s prime minister, who landed in Jeddah on Friday, began a two‑day swing through Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar to meet top leaders.
- Her office cast the mission as a focused effort to strengthen national energy security through direct talks with major oil and gas producers.
- Italian outlets described the visit as the first by a Western leader to the region since fighting in Iran began, signaling political engagement in a tense setting.
- The journey follows supply jitters tied to Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that carries a large share of the world’s oil and has driven up fuel and power costs in Italy.
- Rome has extended a cut to fuel taxes to blunt higher pump prices, as Standard & Poor’s lowered Italy’s growth outlook and the finance minister flagged the option of using an EU deficit escape clause.