US President Donald Trump has claimed he stopped a potential nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan by threatening to withhold trade deals.
Speaking at a NATO summit in Hague, President Trump doubled down on his claims at the press conference Wednesday, saying he used “a series of phone calls on trade” to convince the nuclear-armed neighbours to step back from military confrontation during escalating tensions in May 2025.
“I said if you’re going to go fighting each other, we’re not doing any trade deal,” Trump told reporters at the conclusion of the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
“We stopped the nuclear war,” he added.
Trump referenced recent diplomatic meetings, saying Pakistani general Asim Munir had visited his office the previous week while praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “a great friend of mine” and “a great gentleman.”
According to the President’s account, both countries chose potential economic partnerships over military action when presented with the option.
“I got them to reason, and I said, we’re not doing a trade deal if you’re going to fight. They said, no, I want to do the trade deal,” Trump explained.
The comments represent the President’s most latest public account of his claimed role in mediating the India-Pakistan crisis that erupted earlier this year.
However, Trump’s characterisation of events has been disputed by Indian officials.
The Indian government has previously contested the President’s assertion that US mediation was decisive in achieving the ceasefire between the two nations in May 2025.
Meanwhile, India has clarified that the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan took place on May 10 following contacts between the two DGMOs.
A spokesman for India’s foreign ministry said senior officials in New Delhi and Washington had been “in regular contact” during the crisis, but stopped short of confirming Trump’s version of events.
The conflict represented the most serious military escalation between India and Pakistan in over five decades, with both nuclear-armed nations mobilising forces along their disputed border.
The US maintains significant economic relationships with India and a bilateral trade worth billions of dollars annually.
India is one of America’s largest trading partners in Asia, while Pakistan has sought closer economic ties with Washington in recent years.
In fiscal year 2024-25, the bilateral trade between the two countries reached USD 131.84 billion.
During the press conference, Trump also defended US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as “very, very successful”, contradicting a preliminary intelligence report suggesting more limited damage.
The US president called the operation “obliteration” and compared it to the atomic bombs that ended World War II.
“No other military on Earth could have done it,” he said, dismissing media reports on the intelligence assessment as “spin”.
The strikes came days before a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was announced. A classified US intelligence report suggested the attacks set Iran’s nuclear programme back “a few months”.
However, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission said the strikes had delayed Iran’s nuclear weapons development “by many years”.
Trump has previously highlighted his personal relationships with world leaders as key to resolving international disputes, though his claims about direct intervention in foreign conflicts have sometimes drawn scepticism from diplomatic sources.
The president made similar assertions about preventing wars during his previous term in office, including claims about North Korea and Middle Eastern conflicts. (Agency)