Published on 6/20/2026
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Last update: 22:00 (Mecca time)
Today, Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attacked US President Donald Trump, denying his new statements that she insisted on taking a photo with him at the recent G7 summit in France, considering his attacks “unjustified and meaningless.”
Earlier, today, Saturday, Trump confirmed in a post on the “Truth Social” platform that Meloni urged him “repeatedly” to take a picture with him, on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
Trump did not stop at the limits of this accusation, but also directed the Italian Prime Minister with harsh criticism, claiming that she had lost her political popularity in Italy, attributing this to her abandoning the support of the United States in its war against Iran.
In this context, Trump said that Meloni’s popularity in Italy was “collapsing,” and that this was “perhaps due to her refusal to support us when it came to preventing Iran from possessing or developing a nuclear weapon, just as NATO did.”
Logistical confusion
Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with Meloni’s failure to allow the United States to use Italian runways during the war on Iran, which constituted logistical confusion for Washington even though it contributes hundreds of billions of dollars annually to protect Italy and other “alleged allies” in NATO, as he said.
Trump said, “Now that the United States has defeated Iran militarily, Meloni wants to become our friend again in order to increase her popularity. No, thanks.”
At the G7 summit held in France last Wednesday and Thursday, a video clip showed Meloni and Trump sitting side by side on a sofa and exchanging extensive conversations, but Trump later indicated that he was just keeping up with her.
Melonie is angry
On the other hand, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni responded today, Saturday, to Trump’s attacks, considering in a post on her Instagram page that they were “unjustified and meaningless.”
“Being your friend certainly hasn’t helped my popularity,” she added, adding, “I suggest you focus on your own popularity.”
In her statements, Meloni sought to turn the page on the controversy, saying that her response on Saturday would be her last comment on this issue.
Yesterday, Friday, Meloni published a video clip in which she said that Trump fabricated a story in which he talked about how she “begged him” to take a picture with him on the sidelines of the summit, and she said in a video message: “Italy and I never beg.”
Meloni not only denied Trump’s story, but rather placed it within a broader framework related to the way Trump deals with allies.
She said that she did not understand why the President of the United States behaved in this way towards his allies, adding that he did not show the same firmness towards those she described as enemies of the West, so the response went beyond the limits of personal defense, towards the nature of the relationship between Washington and its European allies.
Meloni’s response came after a phone interview Trump conducted with the Italian television channel “No 7”, in which he said, according to a text published by the channel, that the Italian Prime Minister very much wanted to take a picture with him, and that he did not want that, but he did “pity her.”
Yesterday, Friday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tayani announced the cancellation of a visit to the United States that was scheduled for next week, in a diplomatic escalation in response to Trump’s statements.
Meloni, who was elected in October 2022 at the head of a very conservative coalition government, was considered one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe, and she often sought to reduce the differences between the United States and the Old Continent. But relations between them deteriorated during the American-Israeli war on Iran.
