Trump again claims credit for India-Pakistan ceasefire, despite Modi’s denial of foreign role

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Sunday reiterated his claim of having stopped multiple global conflicts, including the recent tensions between India and Pakistan, crediting his trade tactics for brokering peace.

Since May 10, when Trump first announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire following a “long night” of US-mediated talks, he has repeatedly stated that his administration played a key role in de-escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Trump’s latest remarks came just days after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued that the president deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for allegedly ending several international disputes, including that between India and Pakistan, reported PTI.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump also took aim at radio host Charlamagne Tha God, claiming the media personality “knows nothing” about his accomplishments. Trump wrote that he had ended five wars, including a “31-year bloodbath” between the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, where, according to him, seven million people died with no resolution in sight. He added that his critics are unaware of his role in other conflicts as well, including that between India and Pakistan, and claimed credit for “wiping out Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” securing the US border, and building the “greatest economy.”

Speaking in a separate interview on Newsmax a day earlier, Trump doubled down on these claims, saying, “We’ve settled a lot of very beautiful wars... One of the wars — India, Pakistan, nuclear.” He further asserted that he resolved conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia, and between Congo and Rwanda.

“I settled that up. And I settled it up with trade,” Trump said in the interview. “I said, ‘Listen, you guys are going to fight. You can fight all you want — I mean, just fight your hearts out. But we're not doing a trade deal.’ All of a sudden they end up not doing a war. I settled a lot of wars. I think I averaged about a war a month. But, you know, we're saving millions of lives.”

On Wednesday, Trump announced the imposition of a 25 per cent tariff on all goods imported from India starting August 1. He also warned of an unspecified penalty for India's continued purchase of Russian crude oil and military equipment. For Pakistan, the tariff was set at 19 per cent, a reduction from the 29 per cent he had proposed in April. Trump also claimed to have finalised a trade deal with Pakistan, saying the US would support Islamabad in developing what he described as the country’s “massive oil reserves.”

At a White House press briefing on Thursday, Press Secretary Leavitt said Trump had ended several international conflicts during his six months in office. She listed India and Pakistan, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Serbia and Kosovo, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Thailand and Cambodia among the nations where tensions were diffused. Leavitt claimed Trump had brokered, on average, one peace deal or ceasefire per month.

“It’s well past time that President Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” she said.

Despite Trump’s repeated assertions — nearly 30 times since May 10 — that he helped settle the India-Pakistan conflict with the promise of expanded trade, Indian officials have denied any foreign involvement.

In Parliament this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi firmly stated that no foreign leader had urged India to halt Operation Sindoor, the military retaliation launched after the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, categorically ruled out third-party intervention and dismissed the idea that the ceasefire with Pakistan was linked to trade. He also clarified that there had been no phone calls between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump between April 22 and June 16.