India, June 21 -- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has hit back at US President Donald Trump after he publicly questioned her popularity and claimed she repeatedly sought a photograph with him, escalating an unusually personal dispute between the two leaders.

Meloni's response came hours after Trump posted on Truth Social, where he suggested the Italian leader was struggling politically at home and was attempting to repair ties with him after disagreements over Iran.

"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G7 meeting in France," Trump wrote. "She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America... when it came t...