U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday, accusing one of his closest European allies of lacking courage after she refused to join the U.S. attacks on Iran.
“I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” Trump told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, in a striking public attack on a leader long seen as one of his strongest partners in Europe.
Trump made clear that Iran was the heart of the dispute. He accused Meloni of failing to back Washington at a critical moment and suggested she was underestimating the threat posed by Tehran.
“She doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance,” Trump said.
The clash points to growing strains between Washington and European allies as the war with Iran deepens, exposing divisions inside NATO and increasing pressure on governments already worried about economic fallout, energy prices and public anger at home.
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Meloni, while still describing the United States as a key ally, signaled that partnership did not mean automatic alignment. She has come under mounting pressure in Italy over the regional war and over her reluctance to break more openly with Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The dispute later widened into Trump’s separate confrontation with Pope Leo XIV. After Meloni called Trump’s remarks about the pope “unacceptable,” Trump fired back by saying she, not he, was the one being unacceptable.
That response added a personal dimension to a broader political rift, but the core of the clash remained Iran, and the growing gap between Washington’s expectations and Europe’s willingness to follow.