Italy's Meloni says no regrets over trying to woo Trump

Italy’s Meloni says no regrets over trying to woo Trump despite public rifts, arguing she invested politically in closer U.S.-Italian ties at NATO. Giorgia Meloni told reporters in Ankara on July 8 that she “absolutely” had no regrets after months of strained relations, with Donald Trump publicly criticizing her in April and again more recently. The dispute included Italy’s March refusal to let U.S. military aircraft bound for the Middle East land at Sigonella in Sicily, and Meloni’s earlier rebuke of Trump over Pope Leo’s condemnation of the Iran war. Meloni said the goal was Western unity, not a strategy adopted with Trump’s arrival. At the NATO summit, Trump called her “a nice person” while renewing criticism over her support for expected U.S. military actions against Iran.