‘35 Million Would Have Died If Not for Me’: Trump’s Fresh Claim on India–Pakistan Conflict

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again claimed credit for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, telling lawmakers during his State of the Union address that his intervention helped prevent a potential nuclear conflict.

Addressing Congress, Trump suggested that tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours could have escalated dramatically. “Pakistan and India would have been in a nuclear war,” he said, adding that “35 million people, said the Prime Minister of Pakistan, would have died if it were not for my involvement.”

Trump has repeatedly asserted since the May 2025 standoff that his administration played a decisive role in easing the crisis. He has argued that trade negotiations and tariff measures were used as leverage to discourage further escalation — a characterization that New Delhi has not endorsed.

The US president was referring to the confrontation that followed the April 22, 2025, terror attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 civilians. In response, India conducted strikes on what it described as terror infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan under Operation Sindoor, leading to heightened military tensions between the two countries.

Speaking at a public event last week, Trump reiterated his account of the episode, saying he warned both sides that trade talks would be suspended unless the situation was defused. He also claimed he threatened steep tariffs if hostilities continued.

In recent months, Trump has publicly repeated his claim of mediating the crisis numerous times, while offering varying descriptions of the military developments during the conflict.

India, however, has maintained that the ceasefire understanding reached on May 10, 2025, resulted from direct bilateral engagement between India and Pakistan, stating there was no third-party involvement.