President Trump doubled down on his attacks on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Saturday, claiming she “wants to be friends again.”

“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” the president insisted on Truth Social, days after the Italian leader denied Trump’s claim she had “begged” him for a photo.

“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!),” Trump wrote.

Meloni “wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips” for attacks on Iran,” he added.

“Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!” he wrote.

The diplomatic rupture began at the G7 meetings in Evian-les-Bains, France, when the president told a journalist with Italy’s La7 TV last week that Meloni “wanted a picture with me so badly,” and claimed he “felt sorry for her.”

“I do not know why the president of the United States behaves this way toward his allies — it is certainly not the first time this has happened,” Melonti shot back in a video statement.

Meloni said she was “frankly stunned” at the president’s claim, calling Trump’s comments “made-up.”

“Neither I nor Italy ever beg,” she added.

Minutes before Meloni’s clap-back video on Instagram, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani nixed a planned US visit that had been set for next week in the wake of the tiff.

“The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy,” he posted on X Friday morning. “For this reason, I have decided to cancel my visit to the United States scheduled for the next 21 and 22 June.”

He had been set to attend a US-Italy investment forum in Miami with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Trump and Meloni had warm relations when she came to power in 2022 as head of the right wing populist Brothers of Italy party.

She attended his 2025 inauguration – and was the only European leader to do so.

But the two clashed after the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran in late February. Meloni called the attacks “outside the rules of international law.”

In late March, Italy denied granting landing permission to US military aircraft at Sigonella air base in Sicily en route to the Middle East because Washington hadn’t sought advance approval from Rome, Corriere della Sera reported at the time.

Trump then told the Italian paper Corriere della Sera in April he was “shocked” at her. “I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” he said.

Meloni called it “unacceptable” when Trump went after Pope Leo XIV over his own criticism of the war. Trump had called the Pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” 

“She’s unacceptable because she doesn’t mind that Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if they had the chance,” Trump responded. 

The pair had been seen on video huddling at several moments during the conference last week despite their public spats. 

Meloni said Wednesday there were not any “recriminations.”