Meloni arrived in Qatar after a visit to Saudi Arabia, where she had talks with de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Her trip to the Gulf, which has been targeted on a daily basis by Iranian missile and drone attacks in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes, was not announced in advance.

According to a statement from her office, Meloni and the Qatari emir "tackled energy issues... and discussed possible measures to mitigate the shocks suffered".

The Italian prime minister also said her country was ready to "contribute to the rehabilitation of Qatari energy infrastructure, which is essential to energy security on a global scale".

Italy is highly dependent on energy imports and has been eyeing rising energy prices with growing concern.

The emir's palace said in a statement that both leaders expressed the need to "prioritise diplomacy in order to contain the current crisis in the Middle East".

Qatar has seen multiple attacks on its energy installations, which it has said will severely affect its natural gas export capacity.

The aim of Meloni's Gulf trip "is to strengthen relations with these countries and repeat Italy's support against Iranian attacks", a Rome government source told AFP on Friday, adding that the region was a "crucial source of oil and gas for Italy".

The source said Meloni was the first leader of a European Union or NATO country to travel to the Gulf since the war broke out on February 28 with a wave of US-Israeli attacks that killed Iran's supreme leader.

The far-right premier is one of the European leaders closest to US President Donald Trump.

But she has insisted Italy does not want to join in the war effort, despite Trump urging other countries to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, which is vital to oil and gas shipments and has been all but closed since the start of the war.

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