US President Donald Trump has again claimed that his intervention helped end a military conflict between India and Pakistan in May, during which he said five jets were shot down. Speaking at a dinner with Republican senators at the White House, Trump described the situation as escalating dangerously.
“You had India, Pakistan… planes were being shot out of the air… I think five jets were shot down actually,” Trump said. “That was getting worse and worse. These are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other.”
He said the US stepped in to calm the situation through trade talks. “We got it solved through trade. We told them—‘You want to make a trade deal? We’re not making one if you’re going to be throwing around weapons and maybe nuclear weapons,’” he added. Trump claimed this pressure helped stop the conflict and pointed to it as part of his administration’s success in avoiding wars. “We stopped a lot of wars,” he said. “And these were serious wars.”
India, however, has consistently denied that the US played any role in ending the conflict. According to New Delhi, the fighting stopped after direct military communication between the two sides. India has not acknowledged any US mediation.
The brief but intense conflict began after India launched “Operation Sindoor” on May 7 in response to anattack in Pahalgam. The strikes “targeted terror camps in Pakistan-controlled areas.”
Following the strikes, the two countries exchanged fire for four days before agreeing to stop on May 10.
The US government recently designated the TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move was aimed at holding groups like TRF accountable. India welcomed the designation, calling it an important step in the fight against terrorism.
