Iceland summons US ambassador after Donald Trump post

Iceland has summoned the United States ambassador following a post by US President Donald Trump on social media of a map showing the island as part of US territory, the Icelandic Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, summoned the American ambassador yesterday to make it clear to him that this image was totally inappropriate,” a ministry spokesperson wrote in a message to AFP.

Donald Trump published on his Truth Social network a “map” showing the United States, Central America, Canada, Greenland and Iceland covered with the Stars and Stripes. The American president, who is accustomed to this type of message, did not add a caption to his publication.

Since its independence in 1944, Iceland has never had an army and it relies for its security on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as on a bilateral defense agreement concluded with the United States in 1951.

Icelanders have expressed their commitment to the status quo.

Donald Trump's insistent aims on Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory - whose coast is located less than 300 kilometers away and which the American president had confused in January 2026 with Iceland - have shaken some certainties about their relationship, without calling it into question.

By rejecting by referendum on August 29 a resumption of negotiations for accession to the European Union (EU), the Icelanders expressed their attachment to the status quo, a mixture of European economic integration - the country participates in the single market via the European Economic Area - and Atlanticism in matters of defense.