US President Donald Trump has once again asserted that his intervention averted a potential war between India and Pakistan. Speaking in Scotland on Monday, ahead of talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump said that without his involvement, the two nuclear-armed neighbours
“would have been at war.”
Addressing reporters at his Turnberry golf resort, Trump claimed credit for preventing what he called
“Six major wars around the world.” Among these, he highlighted tensions between India and Pakistan, calling it “a very big one” because it involved “two nuclear nations.”
Trump said he knew both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani leaders “very well,” and used trade leverage to dissuade them from escalating conflict.
“I told them I wouldn’t proceed with any trade deal if they were on the brink of war,” he said, adding that such a conflict risked spreading “nuclear dust” far beyond South Asia.
His comments came just hours after a breakdown in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, when he was asked about US efforts to contain that conflict. Trump used the moment to argue that his presidency has been instrumental in preventing global wars, describing it as “a great honour.”
However, India has consistently rejected claims of any US role in defusing tensions during Operation Sindoor, its targeted military strikes against Pakistan in May following the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam. New Delhi has maintained that the operation concluded through direct military-to-military communication, without mediation.
The episode underscores a broader pattern in Trump’s rhetoric: framing global flashpoints in transactional terms—often tied to trade—and casting himself as a decisive actor. Yet, while his claims reinforce his self-styled image as a dealmaker on the world stage, they remain at odds with official positions in New Delhi, which insists on managing its disputes with Islamabad bilaterally, without third-party involvement.
