By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday made comments during a cabinet meeting at the White House again claimed that he had spoken with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and prevented nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
Trump has claimed that he stopped the India and Pakistan war from “going nuclear” by threatening to impose tariffs and refusing to do any trade deals if they did not agree to a ceasefire.
He commented “I am talking to a very terrific man, Narendra Modi. I said, ‘What’s going on with you and Pakistan?’ The hatred was tremendous. This has been going on for a hell of a long time, like, sometimes with different names for hundreds of years,” Trump said.
“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 added.
“Within five hours, it was done. Maybe it starts again, but I will stop it if it does,” Mr. Trump said
Mr. Trump also claimed that “seven jets or maybe more than that” were shot down without elaborating which country’s aircraft he was referring to.
His comments came hours before new tariffs totaled 50% on Indian goods were set to take effect on August 27.
Mr. Trump claimed that he stopped 7 wars around the world, including the one between India and Pakistan.
He added that of the seven wars he stopped, four were because he used tariffs and trade to negotiate with the parties involved in the conflict.
Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 40 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.
India has maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached followed with direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations of the two militaries.
Narendra Modi has said in Parliament that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has categorically said there was no third-party intervention in bringing about a ceasefire with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.
