Trump rebukes Italy’s Meloni over Iran war, questions her courage

Donald Trump turned his fire on Giorgia Meloni, telling an Italian newspaper that the Italian prime minister had disappointed him and lacked courage. The rebuke was striking because Meloni had been one of Trump’s closest European allies and one of the few major Western leaders to attend his inauguration in 2025.

The dispute centered on the war in Iran and the strain it placed on transatlantic politics. Trump said Meloni was very different from what he had expected and accused her of failing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran had blocked shipping. He also said he thought she had courage and that he had been wrong about her, a sharp reversal of the political warmth that had defined their relationship.

Meloni had backed Trump strongly, but she began to distance herself after his decision to go to war with Iran in February. She then criticized him again after he attacked Pope Leo. Her government has tried to keep clear of the fighting, which is deeply unpopular in Italy and has threatened to drive energy costs higher. She refused to let U.S. fighters use an airbase in Sicily for combat operations in Iran, then suspended a military cooperation pact with Israel.

Those decisions put Meloni on a collision course with Trump at a moment when Europe has been trying to contain the war’s economic fallout and the political backlash at home. The episode also exposed how quickly shared ideology can give way to competing national interests, especially when energy supplies, regional security and domestic opinion all pull in different directions.

The White House declined to comment on Trump’s reported remarks, and Meloni’s office gave no immediate response. But senior Italian politicians moved quickly to defend her. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stressed that Italy remained a loyal Western ally even when disagreements arose, a signal that Rome wants to preserve ties with Washington even as the gap over Iran widens.

The confrontation carried implications beyond one exchange of insults. If Trump keeps pressing allies to shoulder more responsibility for energy flows and regional security, European governments may face harder choices between alignment with Washington and political stability at home. Meloni’s case was especially revealing because she had been among Trump’s strongest partners in Europe. A rupture between them would show that the nationalist right’s unity can break when hard interests, not shared slogans, are on the table.