Premier Giorgia Meloni on Monday welcomed the agreement reached between Washington and Tehran to end the Iran war.

“Last night, together with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, we had already expressed our strong appreciation for the memorandum of understanding signed by the United States and Iran hours ago,” Meloni said in a statement, referring to a joint declaration she signed with the leaders of the three other European powers.

“Heartfelt thanks go to all the mediators, and in particular to Qatar and Pakistan, who made this agreement possible.

“This is an opportunity for peace that must be seized: Italy, as in the past, is ready to support the diplomatic process toward a comprehensive agreement”.

In the joint declaration, Rome, London, Paris and Berlin said the urgent re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz with unconditional and unrestricted freedom of navigation was “essential”.

“We are committed to playing our part to achieve this —in accordance with our respective constitutional requirements— including through a strictly defensive and independent mission to reassure commercial shipping and conduct mine clearance operations,” the declaration said.

It said that Iran “must never acquire a nuclear weapon” while adding that the four States were “prepared to lift relevant sanctions in response to clear, verifiable steps by Iran on its nuclear programme”.