The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has opened a new political front against who is his greatest ally in Europe, the Italian prime minister, Georgia Meloni. He has done so in response to her criticisms against the attacks by the American leader directed on Monday at Pope Leo XIV.
In an interview granted to the outlet Corriere della Sera, Trump has assured he was surprised by Meloni's reaction and has asserted that “the unacceptable one is her”, in a message that has rapidly escalated tension between Washington and Rome.
The disagreement comes after Meloni on Monday called “unacceptable” the US president's criticism of Pope Leo XIV for his differences over the war in Iran. Furthermore, the leader published an image on his social media generated by Artificial Intelligence of a messianic Trump, in a war scenario that the leader deleted after the attacks received.
Thus, Trump has responded harshly, assuring that the Italian leader “does not care if Iran has a nuclear weapon” and going so far as to forcefully warn that this scenario could pose a direct threat to Europe.
An increasingly distant relationship
The leader, who until recently maintained a close political relationship with the Italian leader, has indicated that “it’s been a long time” since they talked, after emphasizing that Meloni “is very different” from what he thought. “She is no longer the same person,” the Republican magnate insisted.
“I thought I had courage, but I was wrong,” he stated, before adding that “Italy will never be the same country again” and that “immigration is killing” both the transalpine nation and the whole of the European continent.
In this same vein, he has denounced that “they pay the highest energy prices in the world and are not even willing to fight for the Strait of Hormuz, from where they obtain it”, confirming that he asked Italy to send “whatever they wanted” to the area, although they finally did not agree to do so.
Trump intensifies his attacks on Pope Leo XIV
Also, Trump has again lashed out at the Pope, stating that the pontiff “does not understand” the situation in Iran. “He has no idea what is happening. He does not understand that 42,000 protesters died in Iran last month,” he sentenced.
Meloni, until now one of the closest allies to the American president, called his comments about the Pope “unacceptable” and recalled that Leo XIV is the head of the Catholic Church and that “it is fair and normal that he asks for peace and condemns every form of war.”
Tensions soared after Trump claimed in a social media message that the Pope “is weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy,” as well as showing “weakness” on issues related to nuclear weapons.
“I don't want a Pope who thinks it's terrible that the United States attacked Venezuela, a country that was sending enormous quantities of drugs to the United States and, even worse, was emptying its prisons, including murderers, drug traffickers, and hitmen, into our country,” he stated.
Meloni paralyzes the renewal of the defense agreement between Italy and Israel
In other matters, the Italian prime minister announced this Tuesday that her Executive has decided to halt the renewal of the defense cooperation agreement between Italy and Israel, signed in 2003 and focused on the exchange of military material and other technologies. The measure comes amidst a full increase in tensions derived from the joint offensive by the United States and Israel against Iran and from the Israeli bombings on Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
“Given the current situation, the Government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel,” Meloni affirmed in reference to the pact, which was ratified by the Italian Parliament and has been in force since April 13, 2016. The automatic renewal of the agreement was set for Monday, according to what the Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ has published.
The leader, who has not offered for now more details about this decision, has also emphasized the need to “continue working to advance the peace negotiations” between the United States and Israel and to “make all possible efforts to stabilize the situation and reopen the Strait of Hormuz”, which she has described as “crucial” for the interests of the European country.