Highlights:
US president Donald Trump has again claimed credit for preventing a wider conflict between India and Pakistan, bringing up the 2025 military confrontation at an election rally in Florida as he campaigned ahead of the US midterm elections. Trump said he threatened both countries with steep tariffs to stop the fighting and expressed disappointment that his claimed diplomatic efforts had not earned him a Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaking at the rally on Friday (23), Trump described India and Pakistan as two nuclear-armed nations that were prepared to continue fighting before his intervention. He claimed that his threat to impose tariffs of up to 250 per cent on both countries helped bring the conflict to an end.
“You stop India and Pakistan, two nuclear nations... I said, 'Fellas, if you guys are going to do that, you're not going to trade with the United States...I'm going to put massive tariffs on both of you, 250 per cent, so you won't be able to do any business',” Trump said.
He claimed that both countries were angry but eventually stopped shooting.
“Eleven planes were shot. I stopped all these wars, and it's really an honour to do so...” Trump said, adding that he had not received any assistance from the United Nations in his efforts.
“I'd never made one phone call to the United Nations. But we got them all stopped, and a couple more left. I had no idea when I was running, I had no idea that they had so many wars,” Trump said.
Trump again claims credit for stopping India-Pakistan conflict
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he helped prevent further escalation between India and Pakistan in May 2025 by threatening both countries with trade penalties. His latest remarks brought the confrontation back into the spotlight during campaigning for the US midterm elections.
India launched Operation Sindoor in May 2025 following the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, which killed several people. The Indian military operation targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK).
The confrontation raised concerns about escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Military action was paused on May 10, 2025, following a request from Pakistan, according to India's account of the developments.
However, New Delhi has consistently rejected Trump's claims that he brokered the ceasefire. India has maintained that the understanding to stop military action was reached directly between the two countries, without third-party mediation.
Trump has continued to cite the episode as an example of his claimed success in resolving international conflicts. At the Florida rally, he said his efforts had stopped several wars and presented the India-Pakistan confrontation as one of those achievements.
Trump expresses frustration over Nobel Peace Prize
The president also returned to his longstanding complaint that he has not received the Nobel Peace Prize despite claiming to have helped resolve multiple international conflicts.
"I've settled eight wars. Did I get the Nobel Prize? No," he said.
Trump has repeatedly argued that his diplomatic interventions deserve international recognition. At the rally, he said he considered stopping conflicts an honor, while suggesting that his efforts had not received the recognition he expected.
His comments came as he sought to highlight his foreign policy record before voters in the midterm elections. The remarks also underscored his continued use of trade threats as a claimed tool of diplomatic pressure.
India, however, has maintained its position that the cessation of military action in May 2025 was agreed directly between New Delhi and Islamabad. Trump's latest comments do not change India's stated account of how the military pause was reached.
