US President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed again — not once but twice — to have stopped a war between India and Pakistan, seemingly unfazed by the potential of such a remark puncturing the upbeat mood that has returned to the bilateral landscape following his announcement of a trade deal with New Delhi last Tuesday.
In a social media post on what he has done for the US strategic sphere, Trump said: “I have stopped nuclear wars from breaking out across the World between Pakistan and India, Iran and Israel, and Russia and Ukraine…."
Earlier, he said something similar in his address at the National Prayer Breakfast: “If you don’t have strength, peace is very hard, and we have strength. In one year, I’ve ended eight raging wars such as Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
India has repeatedly denied any involvement of the US President in the “ceasefire” announced first by him — before either India or Pakistan — on May 10. While maintaining that there was no third-party intervention, the government flagged the fact that this has been the stated policy of successive governments of all political persuasions. Through the years, India has bristled at any mediation offer from any quarter.
Trump has made this claim nearly 90 times since May 10; sometimes going beyond and saying he leveraged trade to get the two countries to agree to a ceasefire. The external affairs ministry has sidestepped multiple questions over the past several months on whether India has officially registered its objection with Washington on Trump repeatedly making such a claim.
Congress communications-in-charge Jairam Ramesh — who has been keeping a count of the number of times Trump has made this claim — was quick to use his latest iteration to target the government, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “His good friend in Washington DC is fast moving to the century mark of saying that he had intervened to halt Op Sindoor on May 10, 2025. And yet the Prime Minister maintains his complete silence on this issue — like he does on his infamous clean-chit to China on June 19, 2020 after over twenty jawans were martyred in Eastern Ladakh.”
