Israel and Lebanon hold rare talks; Trump says talks with Iran could resume this week; France and UK look for solution to safe passage through Strait of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump said Pope Leo XIV does not understand Iran’s nuclear threat.

“He doesn’t understand it and shouldn’t talk about war because he has no idea what is happening,” he told the Italian newspaper. Corriere della Sera in a brief telephone interview on Tuesday.

Trump also criticized Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling his comments about the pope “unacceptable.”

“It is she who is unacceptable because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if they had the chance,” Trump said.

Trump, who previously complimented Meloni, said he was “shocked” by the prime minister.

“I thought she was brave, but I was wrong,” he said, lamenting Italy’s lack of support in the US war with Iran and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Meloni defended her differences with the Trump administration on Tuesday.

“If you are friends and have allies, especially if they are strategic, you must also have the courage to say when you disagree, and that is what I do every day because I believe this is beneficial for Europe, the United States and the West in general,” she said.

And Italy’s foreign minister echoed Meloni’s defense of the pope.

“Until today, President Trump considered Giorgia Meloni a courageous person. He was not wrong because she is a woman who never shies away from saying what she thinks. And about Pope Leo