Meloni did not tell Trump to 'watch his words'

"Meloni: 'As far as I know, nine nations possess nuclear weapons, and only one has ever used them. That nation is the United States. Mr. Trump needs to tone it down. No one throws around nuclear threats like Washington does, and he should watch his words,'" says an April 15, 2026 post on Threads.

The post shares a 35-second clip of Meloni answering a question from reporters in Italian.

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Screenshot from X taken April 17, 2026

Similar posts spread across Facebook, Instagram and X.

The posts came as Trump on April 14 rebuked Meloni over her unwillingness to join the war with Iran, saying in an interview: "I thought she had courage, but I was wrong." The same day, Meloni suspended a defense agreement with Israel involving the exchange of military equipment and technology research.

Trump told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that the far-right prime minister, who was the only European leader to attend Trump's inauguration in 2025 and has sought to position herself as a bridge between Europe and his administration, was "much different than I thought."

"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 said.

The posts claiming Meloni said Trump should "watch his words" misquote the Italian leader, however. There is no evidence she made such a statement.

AFP found no reliable news reports attributing the alleged comments about nuclear threats to Meloni.

Instead, the video attached to the posts dates to April 14 and shows her saying, translated from Italian: "What I said is what I believe, that the statements -- particularly those about the pope -- were unacceptable.

"I have expressed, and I express, my solidarity with Pope Leo. Let me put it this way: frankly, I wouldn't feel comfortable in a society where religious leaders do whatever political leaders tell them to. Let's just say not in this part of the world. So I didn't agree, and I told him."

She was referencing Trump's unprecedented personal attacks on the Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV, whom the president called "weak" in an April 12 Truth Social post.

Multiple news outlets including Bloomberg published footage of the same moment with similar translations.

The Arab fact-checking website Misbar also debunked the false quotes credited to Meloni.

Meloni has said allies should be direct with each other amid the war in the Middle East, telling reporters April 14 that "when we don't agree, and I often don't agree, we have to say it."

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the Middle East war here.