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By Gram Slattery and Angelo Amante
ANKARA/ROME, July 7 (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump described Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as a “nice person” on Tuesday while criticizing her refusal to assist in the confrontation with Iran, marking the latest exchange in a diplomatic rift testing bilateral relations.
Once viewed as a close Trump ally, Meloni saw the relationship deteriorate last month after the U.S. president claimed on Italian television station La7 that she had “begged” him for a photo at a G7 summit in France. She denied the allegation, accusing him of inventing the story.
Tensions escalated further this year when Meloni criticized Trump for attacking Pope Leo over his condemnation of the Iran conflict. Trump responded by denouncing her for declining to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“She refused to get involved so it soured my relationship with her a little bit. But I like her. I think she’s a nice person, actually. But I think she made a mistake,” Trump told reporters in Turkey, where he was attending a NATO summit.
In March, Italy denied U.S. military aircraft permission to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily en route to the Middle East, citing Washington’s failure to seek prior authorization from Rome.
The latest friction stemmed from a weekend Truth Social post by Trump featuring a photo of Meloni looking up at him captioned “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED,” rekindling the dispute ahead of the NATO gathering in Ankara both leaders are attending.
SAY HELLO ‘WITH A SMILE’
During the Iran conflict, Trump also lashed out at other European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who criticized the war.
Trump’s rebuke was a particular blow for Meloni, who had initially sought to cultivate a close relationship with him based on their shared right-wing political outlook. She was the sole European leader to attend his 2025 inauguration.
The Italian government declined to respond to the latest social media attack, with ministers vowing to avoid escalating tensions that could damage bilateral ties.
“Trump speaks for himself. We have a U.S. president who loves to provoke, especially on social media. We have decided to stop responding to these remarks,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told La Stampa newspaper on Tuesday.
Meloni’s office declined to comment on how she would conduct herself when meeting Trump in Ankara. A source close to her, speaking on condition of anonymity, ruled out a snub, saying she knows how to handle such situations and could instead greet him “with a smile.”
(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, Gram Slattery in Ankara; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Keith Weir)
