Trump deepens the dustup with Italy’s Meloni over a disputed photo from the G7 summit
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump It was met with outrage on Saturday Italian Prime Minister Giorgia MeloniHe insists he asked him to take photos with him “repeatedly” at the last Group of Seven summit and criticizes Italy for telling him not to cooperate during the Iran war.
Remarks deepening the debate that started this week In the Republican president’s interview with an Italian broadcaster, Trump claimed Meloni “begged” for a photo during the G7 meeting in France. Meloni called it “a complete fabrication.” This cross-pollination led Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States as Meloni’s government lined up to defend him.
While spending the weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Trump wrote on the social media platform: “Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni repeatedly asked to take photos with me during the G-7 meeting in France.” He spelled his name wrong in the first post, but corrected it later.
He continued: “It’s doing poorly in terms of popularity in Italy, probably because it turned down the United States, a country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from acquiring or developing Nuclear Weapons (But so did NATO!).”
Trump’s comments were broadcast on the La7 network on Friday. A reporter asked the president about Ukraine, but Trump brought up Meloni and made a claim about the photo. La7 said Trump told her he didn’t have to take a photo with her, but felt sorry for her and agreed. The broadcaster posted a dubbed version of the speech online but did not release the original English audio.
Trump also complained in his post that Meloni would not allow the United States to use Italy’s landing strips or airstrips during the Iran war, even though the United States is the leader in defense spending among NATO allies. It’s a long-standing complaint about the military alliance, and one that Trump has voiced ahead of his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House on Wednesday and the NATO summit in Türkiye next month.
Italy, an important logistics center for the USA, Rejected in March to allow American bombers to head to Middle East Using a base in Sicily without parliamentary approval. Embers He expressed his disappointment about Meloni On Saturday, he claimed that he “wants to be friends again” in light of the first agreement between the US and Iran to end the war.
