Trump deepens the dustup with Italy’s Meloni over a disputed photo from the G7 summit

Trump deepens the dustup with Italy’s Meloni over a disputed photo from the G7 summit 1 of 3 | President Donald Trump speaks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at a working lunch with leaders of G7 and the Middle East in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP) 2 of 3 | U.S. President Donald Trump, center, speaks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, right, at a working lunch with leaders of G7 and the Middle East, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP) 3 of 3 | U.S. President Donald Trump, left, speaks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, second left, after a group photo of G7 leaders and invited nations during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) 1 of 3 | President Donald Trump speaks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at a working lunch with leaders of G7 and the Middle East in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP) 1 of 3 President Donald Trump speaks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at a working lunch with leaders of G7 and the Middle East in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 2 of 3 | U.S. President Donald Trump, center, speaks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, right, at a working lunch with leaders of G7 and the Middle East, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP) 2 of 3 U.S. President Donald Trump, center, speaks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, right, at a working lunch with leaders of G7 and the Middle East, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 3 of 3 | U.S. President Donald Trump, left, speaks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, second left, after a group photo of G7 leaders and invited nations during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) 3 of 3 U.S. President Donald Trump, left, speaks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, second left, after a group photo of G7 leaders and invited nations during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, insisting that she asked “over and over” for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit and criticizing what he said was Italy’s lack of cooperation during the Iran war.The remarks deepen the spat that began this week with the Republican president’s interview with an Italian broadcaster, during which Trump claimed Meloni “begged” for the photo during the G7 meeting in France. Meloni has called that “completely fabricated.” The dustup led Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States as Meloni’s government lined up in her defense.“Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his social media platform while spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat. He misspelled her first name in the initial post, which he later corrected. He continued: “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 (But so did NATO, for that matter!).” 4 MIN READ 2 MIN READ 3 MIN READ Trump’s comments were aired Friday on the La7 network. A correspondent had asked the president about Ukraine, but Trump raised Meloni and made the claim about the photo. Trump said he was not obliged to take the picture with her but that he felt sorry for her and agreed, La7 said. The broadcaster put a dubbed version of the conversation online, but not the original English audio. In his post, Trump also complained that Meloni would not allow the U.S. to use Italy’s landing strips or runways during the Iran war even though the U.S. is a leader in defense spending among NATO allies. That is a long-standing complaint about the military alliance and one that Trump raised before his White House meeting Wednesday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and the NATO summit in Turkey next month.