‘I said to PM Modi…’

Prime Minister Modi with Donald Trump.

US President Donald Trump once again claimed to have ‘stopped’ the brief conflict between India and Pakistan in May and said “seven new beautiful planes had been shot down”. Trump stopped the conflict through trade, he said while making remarks at a dinner with business leaders during his visit to Japan on Tuesday (local time).

“Most of the wars I stopped were because of tariffs, and frankly, I did a great service to the world, but because of trade, because of tariffs. If you look at India and Pakistan, they were heading for that. Seven planes were shot down. Seven new beautiful planes were shot down, and they were heading towards two major nuclear powers,” he said.

Trump later claimed that he told Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir to stop the fighting or the US would not trade with them. “And I said to Prime Minister Modi, who is a very good man, a very good man, and the field chief in Pakistan. I said, ‘Look, if you guys are going to fight, we’re not going to do any trade.’ No, no, no. One thing has nothing to do with the other. And I said, “This has a lot to do with the other two nuclear powers, too. We’re spreading nuclear dust everywhere. You’re all affected, aren’t you?” And we said, “No, if you’re going to fight, we’re not making any deals.” And in about 24 hours, that was the end of it. “It was actually surprising,” he said.

Trump later said he stopped other wars with this tactic. “And we did a lot of things like that. I would say 70% of the reason we’re not fighting is trade, using our heads because they want to trade with the United States. But I said if you’re going to war, we’re not going to trade. And it’s amazing how quickly they can make a deal. And, you know, they would have fought for 10 years and killed millions of people, most of them. So we’re very happy about that,” he said.

However, India has consistently denied the US President’s claims, emphasizing that the decision to “cease hostilities” with Pakistan was taken through direct diplomatic contact between the two countries and that no third party was involved. It has been India’s long-standing position that any issues related to Pakistan, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, should be resolved bilaterally between the two countries. India’s Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7 in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians, showcased a calibrated, tri-service response that embodied precision, professionalism and purpose. Operation Sindoor was designed as a punitive and targeted campaign to dismantle terrorist infrastructure along the Line of Control and deep within Pakistan.

(Except for the title, this news has not been edited by the DNA team and is published from ANI news agency).