{"id":3902,"date":"2026-05-08T17:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902"},"modified":"2026-05-08T17:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:35:01","slug":"giorgia-meloni-meets-marco-rubio-as-iran-war-strains-italy-us-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902","title":{"rendered":"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>ROME:<\/strong> Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday amid growing strain between her government and President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, largely driven by the war with Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rubio is in Italy for a two-day visit aimed at easing tensions with Pope Leo following unprecedented criticism of the pontiff by Trump, while also addressing Washington\u2019s frustration over Italy\u2019s refusal to support the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meloni had previously been one of Trump\u2019s strongest supporters in Europe, building close ties with him and positioning herself as a bridge between Washington and European Union states that lacked political alignment with the Republican U.S. leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, that alignment has become increasingly strained in recent months, as the Iran war has forced her to balance support for the United States with domestic opposition in Italy and rising economic concerns linked to the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before meeting the prime minister, Rubio also held talks with Italy\u2019s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who described the discussions as positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am convinced that Europe needs America, Italy needs America, but the United States also needs Europe and Italy,\u201d Tajani told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meloni and Rubio were expected to discuss the situation in the Gulf region, Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, U.S. tariffs on European goods, and developments related to Cuba, which Washington is seeking to further isolate diplomatically and economically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>TRUMP\u2019S ATTACKS ON POPE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Italian officials were also looking for updates from Rubio\u2019s meetings at the Vatican, as Trump\u2019s recent remarks targeting Pope Leo have sparked controversy in predominantly Catholic Italy, prompting Meloni to describe them as \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her criticism drew a sharp response from Trump, who accused her of lacking courage and failing Washington, and later threatened to withdraw U.S. troops from Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meloni said on Monday that she would not support such a withdrawal, although she acknowledged that the decision \u201cdoesn\u2019t depend on me\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Italian concerns also remain focused on broader political and social issues, including the weakening of family structures and social stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Italy recently refused to allow U.S. aircraft to use the Sigonella air base in Sicily for operations linked to the Iran conflict, with officials stating that Washington had not sought prior approval from Rome for the use of the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, a close ally of Meloni, later warned that the Iran war could undermine U.S. global leadership and expressed concern over the risk of nuclear escalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pollsters suggest that Meloni\u2019s close ties with Trump could become a political liability ahead of national elections scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday amid growing strain between her government and President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, largely driven by the&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2135,2014,1146,254],"class_list":["post-3902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-giorgia-meloni","tag-italy","tag-marco-rubio","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties - World Watch Alert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid rising tensions between Italy and the U.S. over the Iran war and related diplomatic disputes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties - World Watch Alert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid rising tensions between Italy and the U.S. over the Iran war and related diplomatic disputes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Watch Alert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-08T17:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-08T17:35:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meeloni.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"369\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a1cf922194712e47776dbb1e51115040\"},\"headline\":\"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-08T17:35:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-08T17:35:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902\"},\"wordCount\":453,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Meeloni.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Giorgia Meloni\",\"Italy\",\"Marco Rubio\",\"United States\"],\"articleSection\":[\"World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902\",\"name\":\"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties - World Watch Alert\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Meeloni.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-08T17:35:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-08T17:35:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid rising tensions between Italy and the U.S. over the Iran war and related diplomatic disputes.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Meeloni.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Meeloni.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":369},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?p=3902#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"World Watch Alert\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"World Watch Alert\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Chief-Editor-Asif-Ali-Bhatti.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Chief-Editor-Asif-Ali-Bhatti.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":350,\"caption\":\"World Watch Alert\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a1cf922194712e47776dbb1e51115040\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4c81c452db555bfe1e0e5ed315dd6b278f007d8ede7a2a3faadee052f7c23d40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4c81c452db555bfe1e0e5ed315dd6b278f007d8ede7a2a3faadee052f7c23d40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4c81c452db555bfe1e0e5ed315dd6b278f007d8ede7a2a3faadee052f7c23d40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.worldwatchalert.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties - World Watch Alert","description":"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid rising tensions between Italy and the U.S. over the Iran war and related diplomatic disputes.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties - World Watch Alert","og_description":"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid rising tensions between Italy and the U.S. over the Iran war and related diplomatic disputes.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902","og_site_name":"World Watch Alert","article_published_time":"2026-05-08T17:35:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-08T17:35:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":369,"url":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meeloni.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a1cf922194712e47776dbb1e51115040"},"headline":"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties","datePublished":"2026-05-08T17:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-08T17:35:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902"},"wordCount":453,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meeloni.jpg","keywords":["Giorgia Meloni","Italy","Marco Rubio","United States"],"articleSection":["World"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902","url":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902","name":"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties - World Watch Alert","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meeloni.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-08T17:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-08T17:35:01+00:00","description":"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid rising tensions between Italy and the U.S. over the Iran war and related diplomatic disputes.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meeloni.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meeloni.jpg","width":750,"height":369},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3902#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Giorgia Meloni meets Marco Rubio as Iran war strains Italy\u2013US ties"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/","name":"World Watch Alert","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#organization","name":"World Watch Alert","url":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Chief-Editor-Asif-Ali-Bhatti.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Chief-Editor-Asif-Ali-Bhatti.png","width":1080,"height":350,"caption":"World Watch Alert"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a1cf922194712e47776dbb1e51115040","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4c81c452db555bfe1e0e5ed315dd6b278f007d8ede7a2a3faadee052f7c23d40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4c81c452db555bfe1e0e5ed315dd6b278f007d8ede7a2a3faadee052f7c23d40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4c81c452db555bfe1e0e5ed315dd6b278f007d8ede7a2a3faadee052f7c23d40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3904,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3902\/revisions\/3904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}