US President Donald Trump on Thursday once again claimed that his intervention helped avert a military conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating an assertion that New Delhi has denied.

Addressing the “Board of Peace” on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said the world was “richer, safer and more peaceful” than it was a year ago.

Citing South Asia as an example, he claimed Washington had played a decisive role in halting an escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

“We were very happy to stop the war that had started between India and Pakistan, two nuclear nations,” Trump said.

“I was very honoured when the Prime Minister of Pakistan said President Trump saved 10 to 20 million lives by getting that stopped just before bad things were going to happen.”

The US President had claimed a day earlier during a special address at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, reiterating his argument that trade and tariff leverage helped the United States prevent conflicts.

Trump’s remarks refer to the May 2025 escalation that followed Operation Sindoor, a series of precision strikes carried out by India against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The operation was launched in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, in which 26 civilians were killed.

India has repeatedly rejected Trump’s claims of third-party mediation, maintaining that the ceasefire was reached bilaterally through talks between the director generals of military operations of the two countries.

New Delhi has also underlined its long-standing position that all issues with Pakistan, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, must be resolved bilaterally.

During a special discussion in the Lok Sabha in July last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dismissed opposition allegations that India had acted under foreign pressure while conducting Operation Sindoor.

Modi told Parliament that no leader from any country had asked India to stop the operation. He said it was Pakistan that had pleaded for a halt, stating it could not “suffer any longer”.

The Prime Minister added that India had conveyed to the US Vice President that any Pakistani attack would invite a strong and decisive response.

Despite India’s categorical position, Trump has continued to credit himself with preventing a wider conflict, a narrative that remains at odds with New Delhi’s account of events.