US President Donald Trump has once again claimed that he helped stop a possible nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Speaking at an event, Trump said that both countries “shot down five planes in last attack”.
He added that the situation was tense and could have led to a nuclear conflict. Trump said he spoke to leaders of both countries and warned them that the US would stop trade if the fighting continued. He believes his intervention helped prevent further escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
“It was back and forth, back and forth. I called them and I said no more trade if you do this. They are both powerful nuclear nations. Who knows where that would have ended up, and I stopped it,” Trump said.
Trump’s claims on India-Pak
This is not the first time Trump has made such claims. He has reiterated Pakistan’s claim about shooting down India jets during Operation Sindoor previously as well. Just last week on Friday, Trump while speaking at a private dinner with Republican leaders at the White House had claimed that the two nuclear-armed countries were attacking each other and that four or five fighter jets had been shot down before the situation calmed down.
“Planes were being shot out of the air… five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down, actually,” he said.
He said the fighting could have turned into a much bigger war, possibly involving nuclear weapons. According to Trump, his administration stepped in by using trade talks as a way to ease tensions. He had then also said that they told both countries that no trade deal would move forward if the conflict continued.
When asked by a Bloomberg reporter last week, whether Pakistan’s claim about shooting down six Indian jets was true, India’s Chief of Defense Staff, General Anil Chauhan, dismissed it as completely false and said that such claims were not important. However, he later said that the real issue was understanding why the jets were brought down and what steps India took afterward. Chauhan made these remarks during an interview with Bloomberg’s Haslinda Amin at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major defense forum in Singapore.
Opposition’s reaction to Trump’s claims
Later, Congress reacted to Trump’s claim and said, “Trump said that 5 jets were shot down during the war between India and Pakistan. This was also the 24th time he claimed that he stopped the India-Pakistan war by threatening to cut off trade.
Trump keeps repeating this, while Narendra Modi remains silent.” The Opposition further asked, “Why did Narendra Modi compromise the country’s dignity for the sake of trade?”