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President Donald Trump slammed Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, his one-time political ally, deepening a rift over her opposition to the war in Iran and his attack on Pope Leo XIV.
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In a six-minute interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Trump said the two hadn’t spoken “in a long time.” His remarks are a near total reversal on his previous stance on Meloni, whom he once described as a “beautiful young woman” who had taken Europe “by storm.”
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“I’m shocked by her,” he said in remarks that were published in Italian. “I thought she was brave, I was wrong.”
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The exchange highlighted the breakdown in their relationship since Italy refused the US use of a base in Sicily to conduct combat operations for the war in Iran. On Tuesday, Meloni froze a military cooperation agreement with Israel as she seeks distance herself from the war in the Middle East.
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It has also gotten personal. On Sunday, Trump attacked the Pontiff, calling him “WEAK on crime and terrible for Foreign Policy.” The next day, she called those remarks “unacceptable.”
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In the Corriere interview, Trump said it was Meloni “who is unacceptable, because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would let it blow Italy to smithereens in two minutes if it could.”
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“Meloni doesn’t want to help us with NATO, she doesn’t want to help us get rid of the nuclear weapon,” he told Corriere. “She’s very different from what I thought.”
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“She says simply that Italy shouldn’t be involved. Even if Italy gets its oil there, even if America is very important for Italy. She doesn’t think Italy should be involved,” Trump added. “She thinks America should do the job for her.”
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