5 hours ago
1
US President Donald Trump has once again reiterated his claim of brokering peace between India and Pakistan during heightened military tensions in May. The American president insisted that he personally intervened to prevent a nuclear conflict between the two neighbours by reportedly threatening New Delhi and Islamabad with punitive trade measures.
According to Trump, he acted as a catalyst in pushing New Delhi to accept a ceasefire, warning that Washington would withhold trade deals and impose crippling tariffs unless India halted hostilities with Islamabad.
"I am talking to a very terrific man, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. I said, What's going on with you and Pakistan? The hatred was tremendous," Trump said, narrating his supposed exchange with PM Modi.
Add Zee Business as a Preferred Source
India, however, has firmly dismissed such claims, maintaining that the ceasefire was the outcome of direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two armies, without any external mediation.
‘Tariffs so high, your head’s going to spin’
The US president alleged that to push PM Modi towards peace, he threatened New Delhi with prohibitive tariffs.
"I said, I don't want to make a trade deal with you...You guys are going to end up in a nuclear war...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, your head's going to spin," he said.
Trump went on to claim that New Delhi and Islamabad reached an agreement within hours of his intervention. "Within about five hours, 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," he added.
Repetition of claims
This is not the first time Trump has taken credit for defusing tensions between the two South Asian rivals. Since May 10, when he declared on social media that Washington had mediated a "full and immediate" ceasefire, the Republican leader has repeated the assertion over 40 times.
On Monday, Trump told reporters at the White House that he had stopped seven wars globally--four of them, he claimed, by using trade and tariffs as leverage.
‘I have stopped all of these wars’
"I had tariffs and trade, and I was able to say, 'If you go fight and want to kill everybody, that is okay, but I am going to charge you each a 100 per cent tariff when you trade with us'. They all gave up," he said.
"I have stopped all of these wars. A big one would have been India and Pakistan...," he added, even suggesting that the conflict was "the next level that was going to be a nuclear war". Trump claimed India and Pakistan had already "shot down seven jets" before his intervention.
India’s categorical denial
New Delhi has consistently rejected Trump’s statements. Officials have clarified that no third-party was involved in the cessation of hostilities during Operation Sindoor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also told Parliament that “no leader of any country asked India to stop its military exercise against Pakistan”.
Meanwhile, Washington’s fresh tariff action has only added to the tensions. At 9:31 am IST on Wednesday, the United States unilateral 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, including a 25 per cent levy linked to India’s oil imports from Russia came into force. New Delhi has denounced the move, calling it “unjustified.”
English (US) ·