Ankara: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had “made a mistake” by declining to support the United States during its military operation involving Iran, saying the decision had strained what had previously been a good relationship between the two leaders.
Speaking to reporters alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before their bilateral meeting in Ankara ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Summit, Trump said his ties with Meloni had “became a little bad” after Italy refused to participate in efforts related to the Strait of Hormuz and Iran.
“I think she’s a nice person, actually,” Trump said when asked about a recent social media post concerning the Italian leader.
“We had a good — we had a bad relationship, but it became a little bad because she refused to help us. Again, I didn’t put a heavy pressure on her, but she refused to get involved with the Hormuz Strait, or you could also say, just Iran. She refused to get involved.”
Trump said Italy’s decision had affected his view of the relationship, although he continued to speak positively about Meloni personally.
“So it soured my relationship with her a little bit. But I like her. I think she’s a nice person, actually, but I think she made a mistake.”
The President argued that European countries had a direct interest in maintaining stability in the Strait of Hormuz because of their dependence on Middle Eastern energy supplies.
“You know, they get a lot of their oil from — we don’t get any of our — We have a lot of oil. The United States has more oil than anybody,” Trump said.
“We don’t need the straits. We do this because we think it’s an important thing to do. But, um, she just wasn’t there for us and I wasn’t happy about that. You can imagine, I wasn’t happy about that.”
Earlier in the same appearance, Trump broadened his criticism to several NATO allies, saying they had declined to support the United States during the Iran operation despite Washington’s longstanding commitment to European security.
He said he had been “testing people” to see whether allies would stand with the United States, adding that Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom had all declined to participate.
Trump also praised Erdogan for what he described as Turkey’s constructive role during the crisis with Iran, saying Ankara had chosen not to become involved militarily despite having the capability to do so and had instead helped efforts to bring the conflict to an end.
(IANS)
