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It is a positive article in a publication that Trump has consistently praised – but for one catch. The magazine's cover photo, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's tribute to Donald Trump's part in mediating a Gaza ceasefire, leading its 10 November issue, was accompanied by a photo of Trump taken from below and with the sun behind his head.

The effect, the president asserts, is "super bad".

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

“They eliminated my hair, and then had an object hovering on top of my head that resembled a floating crown, but an extremely small one. Truly strange! I consistently avoided taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a terrible picture, and should be criticized. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made clear his wish to feature on Time magazine's front page and achieved this four times last year. This fixation has made it as far as the president's resorts – in 2017, the publication requested to remove fake issues on display at some of his properties.

The latest edition’s photo was shot by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the presidential residence on October 5.

Its angle did no favours for the president's jawline and throat – an opening that the governor of California Newsom seized, with his communications team tweeting a version with the criticized section pixelated.

{The Israeli captives in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement might turn into a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it might signify a strategic turning point for the region.

Meanwhile, a defence of his portrayal has emerged from a surprising origin: the spokesperson at Moscow's diplomatic office stepped in to denounce the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a photograph says more about those who chose it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people obsessed with malice and resentment –perhaps even perverts – could have selected such an image", Maria Zakharova shared on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that the same publication used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she said.

The answer to Trump’s questions – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a feeling of authority stated by a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The image itself is professionally taken," she says. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look commanding. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their majesty and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost a bit ethereal. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a calm instance – the photo appears gentle."

His hair seems to vanish because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Although the article's title complements Trump’s expression in the image, "you can’t always please the person photographed."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and although all of the conceptual elements of the image are quite powerful, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The Guardian contacted the magazine for a statement.