Donald Trump baffles Lionel Messi and Inter Miami and forces them to applaud Iran attack speech

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami were caught on camera looking visibly confused as Donald Trump launched into a lengthy rant about US military operations in Iran during their visit to the White House.

The visit, which took place on Thursday to celebrate the club’s 2025 Major League Soccer Cup title, had initially been intended to focus on the sport and the team’s achievement, however in typical Trump style, the President couldn’t quite help himself from meandering off on a lengthy political rant instead.

This proved to be particularly awkward for Messi, who looked confused throughout the baffling tirade, which had moved from talk of soccer to military might.

Opening his speech with a reference to the team, as they stood on stage just behind him, Trump said: “We like champions. We like winners,” as Messi and the Inter Miami players looked on.

Yet then he seemed to segue into talk of Iran instead, as he quickly pivoted to say: “And before we begin, I think I will say a few words about what's going on with respect to our operation in the country of Iran.”

“The United States military, together with the wonderful Israeli partners, continues to totally demolish the enemy far ahead of schedule, and at levels that people have never seen before, actually.”

He continued by describing the scope of the ongoing military campaign, including the successes so far, adding: “We're destroying more of Iran's missiles and drone capability every single hour, knocking them out like nobody thought was possible,” Trump said.

“As soon as they set off a missile, within four minutes, the launcher gets hit. They don't know what's happening. But we have the greatest military anywhere in the world.”

“Their navy is gone. Twenty-four ships in three days. That's a lot of ships,” he said. “Their anti-aircraft weapons are gone, so they have no Air Force. They have no air defense. All of their airplanes are gone. Their communications are gone. Missiles are gone. Launches are gone.”

Making reference to how the Iranian people were holding up, Trump then said: “60 percent and 64 percent, respectively” of Iran’s capabilities had been destroyed before concluding “Other than that, they're doing quite well,” Trump said. “I say, what's left? But they're tough.”

The jarring shift from football to warfare didn’t go unnoticed by users on social media, with several commenting on video footage shared from the event online.

“Donald Trump talking about a USA-Iran war with Messi in the background having absolutely no clue what’s going on,” penned one user.

A second user observed : “Messi was careful his whole career, working hard to avoid controversy. And now he offers Trump his image and his applause, clapping to war propaganda. This is a disgrace that will follow Messi for the rest of his life. As a fan, this was a very sad day for me”