Furious Trump hits back at Italian Prime Minister Meloni and gives her unusual 'nickname' as their photo feud ramps up

By WILKO MARTÍNEZ-CACHERO, US REPORTER Published: 13:44, 20 June 2026 | Updated: 13:58, 20 June 2026 An angry Donald Trump hit back at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as the two world leaders' relationship continues to deteriorate. In a brief interview with Italian news outlet La 7, Trump had said Meloni 'begged' him to take a photo with her at the G7 Summit. The channel only released a dubbed version, rather than the original audio. Meloni responded in a video statement on Friday, saying she was 'astonished' by Trump's remarks and calling them 'completely made up.' On Saturday morning, Trump insisted that the Italian leader had repeatedly asked him for a photo. ‘Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. It was unclear if the misspelling of Meloni's name in the US President's Truth post was a new nickname or a typo. Trump added: ‘Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her “numbers up.” No thanks!!!’ This most recent spat comes as the relationship between both right-wing leaders had strained this year over the war in Iran. President Donald Trump said Saturday morning on Truth Social that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had asked him 'over and over' for a picture at the G7 summit  Meloni had said Friday that this was 'completely made up' and added that 'neither I nor Italy ever beg' In his Truth post, Trump said Meloni was ‘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.' 'But so did NATO, for that matter!' the US president added in parentheses. The US President further lashed out at Meloni, claiming that 'she wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways' despite the US' financial contributions to their '"so-called" NATO Allies.' In March, Italy denied permission for the US military to land aircraft at the Sigonella air base in Sicily before flying to the Middle East, Politico reported. The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment on Trump's post.  Trump and Meloni were pictured talking at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France This is a breaking news story. More to come. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.