United States President Donald Trump on Sunday evening shared a social media post featuring Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, reopening a recent dispute between the two leaders ahead of this week’s NATO Summit in Turkey.
Trump posted an image on Truth Social that shows Meloni looking up at the American President, with the words “restraining order needed” printed across the top.
The Italian Prime Minister has not yet publicly responded to the post, but some of her top officials were openly dismissive on Monday.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told an Italian news channel, “We are convinced that transatlantic relations go far beyond individual statements.” Interior Minister Matteo Salvini told reporters he “won’t comment on these things anymore.” Guido Crosetto, the nation’s Defense Minister, said he “didn’t react at all” to Trump’s post and that he was more focused on maintaining Italy’s relationship with a “vital ally like the U.S.”
The post rekindles tensions between the two leaders that have been simmering for months. While Meloni, who is up for reelection in 2027, was once considered a close ally of the American President—and was even dubbed “Europe’s Trump Whisperer”—but has distanced herself from him in recent months.
Things escalated last month, when Trump told an Italian broadcaster that Meloni “begged” him to take a photo with her during the G7 Summit—and that he only agreed to do so because he “felt sorry” for her.
He went on to criticize Meloni in a Truth Social post, saying, “She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon.”
“She wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience, and this despite the fact the U.S. contributes hundreds of Billions of Dollars a yea
