Tokyo: Former US President Donald Trump has once again claimed that he “stopped” a brief conflict between India and Pakistan in May, asserting that “seven brand new beautiful planes were shot down” during the exchange.
Speaking at a dinner with business leaders during his visit to Japan on Tuesday (local time), Trump said he managed to halt the confrontation between the two nuclear-armed nations through trade pressure.
“A lot of the wars that I stopped were because of tariffs,” Trump said. “If you look at India and Pakistan — they were going at it. Seven planes were shot down. Seven brand new beautiful planes. And they were two big nuclear powers.”
Trump claimed he had directly spoken to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Army Chief General Asim Munir, warning that the US would halt trade with both countries if the hostilities continued.
“I told Prime Minister Modi — a very nice man, a very good man — and the field marshal over in Pakistan, ‘Look, we’re not going to do any trade if you’re going to fight.’ I said, ‘You’re two nuclear powers. You’ll spread nuclear dust all over the place.’ And within 24 hours, it was over. It was amazing,” Trump said.
The former president went on to claim that similar trade-based tactics had prevented other wars as well.
“Trade is responsible for 70% of the fact that we didn’t have wars,” he said. “They want to trade with the United States, and when I said no trade if you go to war, they stopped. Otherwise, millions could have died.”
However, India has repeatedly dismissed Trump’s claims, maintaining that the decision to cease hostilities with Pakistan was reached through direct diplomatic engagement between New Delhi and Islamabad, without any third-party involvement.
India has also reiterated its long-standing position that all matters with Pakistan, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, must be resolved bilaterally.
In May, following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians, India launched Operation Sindoor — a precise tri-services campaign aimed at dismantling terror infrastructure across the Line of Control and deeper inside Pakistan. The operation was described as a calibrated and targeted response, reflecting India’s resolve to counter cross-border terrorism.
