A fresh diplomatic jibe from Iran's mission in Ghana has gone viral after it indirectly mocked US President Donald Trump and playfully pitched Iran as a better ally for Italy. In a sharply worded post on X, the account addressed Rome directly after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defended Pope Leo XIV during her public row with Trump.
“Dear Italy, your PM just defended Pope and lost an ally in Washington,” the post said, describing Trump as the “Commander in Grief” and “the most ‘powerfool' man on earth.” It then added: “We'd like to apply for the vacancy.”
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The message was laced with cultural references aimed at contrasting Iran's civilisational legacy with Trump's style of politics. “Our qualifications: 7,000 years of civilization, a shared love of poetry, architecture, and food that takes longer to prepare than Trump's attention span,” the post said.
The unusual intervention came amid a widening rift between Trump and Meloni, once considered one of his closest European allies. Relations deteriorated after Meloni criticised Trump's attacks on Pope Leo, calling them “unacceptable,” while distancing Italy from aspects of the US approach to the Iran war. Trump later said he was “shocked” by Meloni's stance and accused her of “lacking courage” for not supporting US military action against Iran.
The row began after Pope Leo repeatedly appealed for peace and condemned threats against Iran's civilian population. In one of his strongest remarks yet, the pontiff said threats against an entire people were “truly unacceptable” and urged world leaders to work for peace.
Iran's Ghana mission ended its post with a lighter note, claiming the only thing Iran and Italy had ever fought over was “who invented ice cream.” It added that Iranian faloodah “came first” while Italian gelato “came louder,” calling it a “cold war” lasting 2,000 years.
The conversation continued when another X user jokingly asked: “Do you cut pasta into smaller pieces in Iran? If you do, you are considered persona non grata in Italy.”
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The embassy responded in the same playful tone: “Iran categorically denies all allegations of pasta cutting. We respect the territorial integrity of spaghetti. Any claims to the contrary are baseless and do not reflect our official position.” It then added: “Please just don't check our kitchens for this. We don't want to lose our potential ally.”
Though humorous in tone, the post reflects how the wider US-Iran conflict is spilling into global diplomacy and online messaging battles. As military tensions continue in West Asia, even traditional alliances are showing visible strain.
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