Trump to Pope Leo XIV: “Whether he likes it or not, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”

Washington.- US President Donald Trump again accused this Wednesday Pope Leo XIV of wanting Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and insisted, on the eve of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to the Vatican, that this cannot happen even if it is not to the liking of the pontiff. “As far as the Pope is concerned, it’s very simple; whether he likes it or not, Iran cannot possess a nuclear weapon. He seemed to suggest that they can, and I say they can’t, because if that were to happen, the whole world would become a hostage, and we are not going to allow that to happen,” the president said when asked by reporters in the Oval Office. Trump repeated these accusations a day before Rubio’s arrival in Rome, on a visit in which he is expected to seek to channel the relationship with the pontiff and the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, after disagreements over their positions in the war against Iran.

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Leo XIV, the first American pope in history, called the US president’s threat to end “an entire civilization” in his war against Iran “unacceptable,” to which the president responded by calling him “weak” and “terrible at foreign policy.” The Republican also shared on his social media a picture generated with artificial intelligence in which he was represented as Jesus Christ, something that outraged part of the Catholic community. A week later, Leo XIV closed the matter by assuring that he does not fear the Trump Administration nor is he interested in debating with the president. However, Trump lashed out at the Pope again this week, when Rubio’s trip to the Vatican had already been officially announced, and accused him of “endangering many Catholics” because “he believes it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

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In a press conference on Tuesday at the White House, Rubio denied that the trip to Italy is motivated by that clash and revealed that he wants to address with the Pope issues such as the distribution of humanitarian aid in Cuba, given that the Vatican has been for years a mediator between Washington and Havana, or freedom of worship in Africa.