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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Trump says Italy’s Meloni lacks ‘courage’ to help in Iran war
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US President Donald Trump meets with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office of the White House, April 17, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)
US President Donald Trump criticizes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for her unwillingness to help in the Iran war.
“I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he says of his political ally in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
The interview is published less than 24 hours after Meloni condemned as “unacceptable” Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo XIV, after the pontiff’s repeated calls for an end to the war in the Middle East.
Trump tells Corriere that it was she who was “unacceptable,” alleging she did not care if Iran had a nuclear weapon.
The Corriere article was published in Italian, but AFP obtained the original quote in English.
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