United States President Donald Trump published a manipulated image of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on his Truth Social platform on Sunday evening, captioned “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED”, hours before both leaders were due to attend a NATO summit in Ankara. The post, which showed Meloni gazing up at Trump, revived a personal dispute that Italian officials now say they will not escalate. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told the newspaper La Stampa that Italy had “decided to stop responding to these remarks so as not to fuel disputes among our allies”, while Defence Minister Guido Crosetto stressed that preserving transatlantic relations remained the priority. Meloni’s office declined to comment, though a source close to the prime minister told Reuters she would greet Trump “with a smile” at the summit.

The current friction traces back to June, when Trump told an Italian television channel that Meloni had “begged” him for a photograph at the G7 summit in France. Meloni called the claim “completely invented”, and the exchange escalated into mutual recriminations. Behind the personal barbs, Italian and US officials point to a substantive policy rift: Rome refused to allow the use of its airbases for US-led operations linked to Iran, a decision Trump has repeatedly criticised. The relationship had already cooled in April after Meloni defended Pope Leo XIV when Trump attacked the pontiff over his condemnation of the Iran conflict.

Viewed from Rome, the decision to absorb the latest provocation without a formal response reflects a calculation that the bilateral security relationship must be insulated from the US president’s social media activity. Analysts at the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome note that the episode illustrates the degree to which personal sentiment can shape US foreign policy under the current administration. The Italian daily Il Foglio underscored the point on its front page by publishing a photograph of Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin under the same “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED” caption.

The NATO summit in Ankara is expected to focus on defence spending commitments and support for Ukraine, areas where Trump has long pressed European allies to shoulder a larger burden. Italy remains one of the alliance’s lower spenders relative to GDP, and Meloni’s government has resisted using EU loans to boost military expenditure ahead of an election year. The two leaders are scheduled to encounter each other during the summit, but Italian officials have signalled that no bilateral meeting is planned. The state of the dossier suggests Rome will seek to compartmentalise the personal dispute while maintaining institutional cooperation, with no further public reaction anticipated.