‘India-Pakistan May Fight Soon…’: Fact-Checked Before, Donald Trump Repeats Ceasefire Claims; Lauds ‘Terrific Man’ PM Modi

New Delhi: The United States President Donald Trump reiterated on Tuesday that he was primarily responsible for averting a possible nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan earlier this year. He claimed to have spoken with a "very terrific" Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and warned Pakistan that a continuation of the conflict would impede trade agreements. 

During a cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump said, “I'm talking to a very terrific man, Modi of India. I said, what's going on with you and Pakistan? Then I spoke to Pakistan about trade. I said, what's going on with you and India? This has been going on for a hell of a long time, sometimes under different names for hundreds of years.”

He added, “But I said, what's going on? I said, I don't want to make a trade deal…. I said, no, no, I don't want to make a trade deal with you. You're going to have a nuclear war. You guys are going to end up in a nuclear war. And that was very important to them. I said, call me back tomorrow, but we're not going to do any deals with you, or we're going to put tariffs on you that are so high. I don't give a damn. Your head's going to spin. You're not going to end up in a war. Within about five hours, it was done. It was done. Now maybe it starts again, I don't know. I don't think so. But I'll stop it if it does. We can't let these things happen.”

Trump repeats claim that seven fighter jets were destroyed during hostilities

"I saw they were fighting, then I saw seven jets were shot down," Trump added, restating his assertion that at least seven fighter jets were shot down during the conflict. 'That's not good,' I responded. That's a lot of jets. You know, USD 150 million planes were shot down. A lot of them. Seven, maybe more than that. They didn't even report the real number.”

Trump also repeated his claim that seven fighter jets or more were shot down during the hostilities, saying, "I saw they were fighting, then I saw seven jets were shot down. I said, 'That's not good.' That's a lot of jets. You know, USD 150 million planes were shot down. A lot of them. Seven, maybe more than that. They didn't even report the real number.”

The US President had earlier put the number at five and said he used trade pressure to halt the escalation.

“I stopped all wars, including India-Pakistan conflict,” says Trump

“I have stopped all of these wars. A big one would have been India and Pakistan...” he said during a bilateral meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea on Monday (local time).

He added, “The war with India and Pakistan was the next level that was going to be a nuclear war... They already shot down 7 jets - that was raging. I said, 'You want to trade? We are not doing any trade or anything with you if you keep fighting, you've got 24 hours to settle it'. They said, 'Well, there's no more war going on.' I used that on numerous occasions. I used trade and whatever I had to use...”

Trump has made multiple references to the tension between India and Pakistan.

He said in July that India and Pakistan were on the verge of a nuclear exchange following the terror assault in Pahalgam that killed 26 people and that he stepped in at a critical moment to defuse the situation.

“We have stopped wars between India and Pakistan. They were probably going to end up in a nuclear war. They shot down five planes in the last attack. It was back and forth, back and forth. "No more trade if you do this," I told them over the phone. They are both powerful nuclear nations. Who knows where that would have ended up, and I stopped it...” Trump stated.

After Operation Sindoor, which attacked terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) on May 7, the White House attributed his participation with helping to broker a “ceasefire” between India and Pakistan. His comments came the day after that.

Using India and Pakistan as examples, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that President Trump's foreign policy had lessened international tensions.

India rejects any outside role, says ceasefire was direct military decision

However, India has continuously denied that any outside parties were involved in the de-escalation. Indian officials claim that on May 10, Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) contacted his Indian counterpart, which resulted in a truce that was directly agreed upon by the two countries.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a stand-in for Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror incident, which claimed 26 lives. TRF was named a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the United States on June 17.

"The organization claimed responsibility for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement.

India applauded the US ruling. According to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, it was a clear indication of India and the US working together to combat terrorism. "We welcome this designation as a strong affirmation of India-US counter-terrorism cooperation, as the Resistance Front is a front organization of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba," he said.

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