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This is a glowing feature in a publication that the president has consistently praised – but for one catch. The magazine's cover photo, he stated, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's praise to the president's involvement in brokering a Gaza ceasefire, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a photograph of the president taken from below and with the sun behind his head.

The effect, he says, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the image may be the Worst of All Time", the president posted on his social media platform.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was a shape over my head that seemed like a hovering crown, but very tiny. Really weird! I have always hated being captured from low angles, but this is a extremely poor image, and it merits criticism. Why did they choose this, and why?”

The president has expressed clear his wish to appear on the cover of Time and achieved this multiple times in the past year. The obsession has reached Trump’s golf clubs – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages exhibited in a few of his establishments.

This issue's photograph was captured by a photographer for a news agency at the White House on 5 October.

The perspective highlighted negatively his chin and neck area – an opportunity that the governor of California Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with his press office posting a modified photo with the problematic part blurred.

{The hostages from Israel held in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Donald Trump's peace plan, alongside a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The arrangement could be a major success of his next term, and it could mark a pivotal moment for the region.

Simultaneously, a support for Trump's image has come from an unexpected source: the communications chief at Moscow's diplomatic office stepped in to denounce the "revealing" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a photo reveals far more about those who selected it than about the person in it. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and resentment –possibly even deviants – could have picked this picture", the official shared on Telegram.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the periodical used on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she added.

The answer to Trump’s questions – why did they choose this, and why? – might involve creatively capturing a sense of power according to a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They chose this shot because they wanted trump to look impressive. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their grandeur and his expression actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see photos of Trump in such a calm instance – the picture feels tender."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. And, while the article's title complements the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the individual in question."

Few people appreciate being photographed from below, and while all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The news outlet contacted the magazine for a statement.