[2] Following the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état, the immediate plans of Iraq's new leaders were to refuse further concessions to the United Kingdom, to retain diplomatic links with Fascist Italy, and to expel most prominent pro-British politicians from the country.

[citation needed] In propaganda broadcasts from Berlin, the Mufti continued to call on Arabs to rise up against the British and aid German and Italian forces.

Its greatest impact, however, was financial, with the U.S. branch of the state-owned, largest bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) in Italy providing several billion dollars in funding for Iraqi military procurement.

In 1990 Roberto Formigoni garnered attention when he was involved in a mission to Iraq which successfully concluded with the freeing of some Italian technicians who were held hostages of the local government.

Italy, along with other European and non-aligned states, supported the January 1991 French proposal of a UN resolution calling for "a rapid and massive withdrawal" from Kuwait along with a statement to Iraq that Council members would bring their "active contribution" to a settlement of other problems of the region, "in particular, of the Arab-Israeli conflict and in particular to the Palestinian problem by convening, at an appropriate moment, an international conference" to assure "the security, stability and development of this region of the world.".

Al-Rawee reviewed Iraq's relations with Italy and expressed hope of expanding them in all fields, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

Rocco Buttiglione, head of the Italian delegation, confirmed the necessity to promote parliamentary relations with Iraq, and expressed solidarity with the Iraqi people in confronting the decade-old U.N. sanctions.

In February 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations General Assembly, continuing US efforts to gain UN authorization for an invasion.

Facing a losing vote as well as a likely veto from France and Russia, the US, UK, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Italy, Japan, and Australia eventually withdrew their resolution.

In his March 17, 2003 address to the nation, Bush demanded that Hussein and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline.