Mistranslated video falsely shared as Italian premier's attack on Trump over nukes

"Trump: If Iran had nuclear weapons, it would blow Italy up in two minutes. Meloni: As far as I know, nine countries possess nuclear weapons, but only one has ever used them. That is the United States of America," reads a simplified Chinese X post shared on June 20.

"This old man and this little woman are really in a feud!"

The video shows Meloni responding to reporters' questions at a media standup, with English subtitles roughly translating her remarks.

Image

Screenshot of false post captured on July 1, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

Italy's relationship with Washington has been increasingly tense since US-Israeli strikes on Iran set off the Middle East war (archived link). 

Israel and the United States have long accused Iran of wanting to build a nuclear weapon-- an allegation it has denied -- with Trump claiming that threat as justification for attacking Iran (archived here and here). 

While Meloni has said "we cannot afford an ayatollah regime in possession of nuclear weapons," Italy has refused to get involved in the war, siding with European allies (archived link).

Similar claims circulated in April, which AFP has also debunked.

The posts appeared to have been reshared on Weibo, Sina and Facebook in June after Trump called out Meloni, saying she wanted to have a photo with him during the G-7 meeting in France (archived link).

The US leader accused her of trying to repair relations with Washington for domestic political reasons after Italy failed to support US action against Iran. 

But her statement was mistranslated and there are no official reports that she has rebuked the US for its use of nuclear weapons.

Mistranslated remarks

The Italian leader was in fact expressing her solidarity with "Papa Leone", which refers to Pope Leo XIV in Italian.

A reverse image search and keyword search on Google using screenshots found that the video was shared on the news website Clash Report's X account on April 14 -- whose watermark can be seen in the false video (archived link).

"Italian PM Meloni stands up to Trump: The statements, particularly about the Pope, were unacceptable. I have expressed and continue to express my solidarity with the Pope," the clip's caption reads. 

Image

Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the video from Clash Report's X account

"I say I disagree because I believe this is good for Europe, the United States, and the West in general... Well, I think what I said is that I think the statements in particular about the pontiff were unacceptable. I expressed my solidarity with Papa Leone," she told the reporters.

"I'll tell you more, frankly, I wouldn't feel comfortable in a society where religious leaders do what political leaders say, let's say, not in this part of the world. That's why I disagreed and told you so."

A separate reverse image search of the watermark in the top right corner showed that it is the logo of Palazzo Chigi, the seat of the Italian government, which published a video showing her making the remarks on April 14 (archived link).

Meloni said this after Trump said on Truth Social he does not want "a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon" and that the pontiff is "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy" (archived link). 

She released a statement one day earlier where she similarly said Trump's words about the Pope were "unacceptable" (archived link). 

There are currently nine countries that possess nuclear weapons, including the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel (archived link).

The United States is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in combat, obliterating the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, killing some 214,000 people (archived link). 

AFP has previously debunked false claims about the Italian prime minister.