{"id":168618,"date":"2026-06-20T02:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/168618\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T02:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T02:50:10","slug":"trump-reiterates-criticism-of-meloni-over-lack-of-help-with-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/168618\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump reiterates criticism of Meloni over lack of help with Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump<\/a> restated his claim that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni<\/a> \u201cbegged\u201d to take a picture with him at the G7<\/a> Summit in France this week.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s once-friendly relationship with Meloni has been strained since Italy<\/a> refused to back the U.S. plan to impose a military blockade on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> during the Iran<\/a> war. He had initially criticized her for defending Pope Leo XIV<\/a> from Trump\u2019s personal attacks on the pontiff over the conflict. Months later, it appears the two world leaders can\u2019t let go of their differences.<\/p>\n

Trump reiterated that Meloni \u201cbadly\u201d wanted a photo with him while criticizing her government\u2019s stance on the Strait of Hormuz blockade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s true,\u201d he told NBC News on Friday. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a big fan, but I don\u2019t want her as a fan because she was not there \u2014 along with the NATO group \u2014 having to do with the strait,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Many European allies declined to participate in the U.S.-led military blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, preferring a more diplomatic approach to reopening the key waterway for commercial shipping. Iran initially closed the strait in late February, causing a surge in global gas and oil prices.<\/p>\n

Renewed access to the Strait of Hormuz was one of the terms outlined in the 14-point memorandum of understanding<\/a> signed by both sides. Reports earlier on Friday indicated Iran had closed the strait again, but the Iranian Foreign Ministry later said the waterway is open.<\/p>\n

Regarding Meloni, Trump previously said she was \u201cprobably happy I talked to her\u201d at the three-day G7 summit and that he \u201cdidn\u2019t have to talk to her.\u201d His remarks were made in an interview with Italian television channel La7, which caught Meloni\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

In response, the prime minister denied she \u201cbegged\u201d for a photo and claimed the president lied about their interaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s statements are completely fabricated,\u201d Meloni said in a video statement<\/a>. \u201cI am frankly appalled. I don\u2019t know why the president of the United States behaves this way towards his allies. After all, it\u2019s not the first time it\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

MELONI CLAPS BACK, AND HER DEPUTY MINISTER CANCELS TRIP TO US AFTER TRUMP SAYS SHE \u2018BEGGED\u2019 FOR PHOTO<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Trump was seen conversing with Meloni and other European leaders during the G7 forum. When European Council President Antonio Costa remarked that the two were \u201cfriends again\u201d at the summit, Meloni replied<\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019ve always been friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Trump\u2019s critical comments about his ally, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced<\/a> he canceled his planned trip to the U.S. early next week in a sign of solidarity with Meloni. Tajani said Trump\u2019s words \u201coffend all of Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump restated his claim that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni \u201cbegged\u201d to take a picture with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[38,6316,3894,102,34,384,101],"class_list":["post-168618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-strait-of-hormuz","tag-donald-trump","tag-g7","tag-giorgia-meloni","tag-hormuz","tag-iran","tag-italy","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116780166214076399","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}