We did that through trade: Trump again claims he averted India-Pak conflict

US President Donald Trump has once again said that he played a key role in stopping conflict between India and Pakistan. During a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday (local time), Trump claimed that things were getting dangerous between the two countries after the Pahalgam terror attack, but his actions helped avoid a nuclear conflict.

"We have been very successful in settling wars, India, Pakistan... India, by the way, Pakistan would have been a nuclear war within another week, the way that was going. It was going very badly," Trump said.

Trump said that he used trade talks as a bargaining tool: "We did that through trade. I said, we are not going to talk to you about trade, unless you get this thing settled, and they did."

He had made a similar claim in June while talking to reporters on Air Force One.

"You know, I did something that people don't talk about, and I don't talk about very much, but we solved a big problem, a nuclear problem potentially with India and with Pakistan," he said.

"I spoke to Pakistan, I spoke to India, they have really great leaders, but they were going at it, and they could have gone at it nuclear," Trump added.

Trump has often taken credit for helping calm tensions between the two countries, especially after India carried out air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians.

INDIA REJECTS TRUMP'S CLAIMS

India has firmly denied President Trump’s claims, saying that all matters related to Jammu and Kashmir must be handled bilaterally between India and Pakistan, with no foreign involvement.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, "As you are aware, we have a long-standing national position that any issues pertaining to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir have to be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally. That stated policy has not changed."

The MEA also reminded that the main issue remains Pakistan's occupation of Indian territory: "The outstanding matter is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian Territory by Pakistan."

The Indian government also rejected Trump’s claim that trade was used to settle the conflict. Officials clarified that during the time of ‘Operation Sindoor’, no discussion about trade took place between Indian and US leaders.

"From the time OPERATION SINDOOR commenced on 7th May till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on 10th May, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions," the MEA said.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure inside Pakistan and PoK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. After defending itself from Pakistan’s military action, India cripple Pakistan's airbases.

Hostilities between India and Pakistan ended after a call from Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) to his Indian counterpart, leading to an agreement to stop further military action.

- Ends

With inputs from ANI