Pedestal convoy and Italian cruiser limits

Did Mussolini order Italian cruisers not to attack the Pedestal convoy, and would Malta have surrendered if it failed?

He says the cruisers were not simply forbidden to attack; fuel, numbers, and viability limited any action, while Malta's position would have been very tight.

Operation Pedestal is framed as a logistics and risk problem alongside its command decisions. Mussolini did not simply order cruisers to avoid the convoy. Italy first had to assemble enough ships and fuel while judging whether the odds justified committing them. Malta's survival without Pedestal also remains uncertain rather than automatic.