US President on Wednesday repeated his claim that he played a role in preventing a wider conflict between India and Pakistan. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, Trump said the military confrontation could have turned “nuclear,” adding that “11 planes were shot down” during the hostilities. He argued that his intervention deserved recognition with a Nobel Peace Prize, according to Hindustan Times.
Trump said the conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours had escalated rapidly before he intervened, a claim that India has repeatedly rejected, HT reported. “Think of it, India and Pakistan. That war was raging. They were a week into it. 11 planes were shot down, and that war was going to go nuclear,” Trump said.
He claimed that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised him for what he described as his role in “stopping the war.”
“The Prime Minister of Pakistan said President Trump saved 30 to 50 million lives. Well, guess what? Could have been a lot more than that,” he said, as cited by HT.
Donald Trump links ceasefire claim to Nobel Peace Prize
During the interaction, Trump further asserted that he had “settled eight wars”, citing disputes including those between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, HT reported.
According to the publication, Trump said that Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado had publicly said that he deserved the honour more than anyone else for his international conflict-resolution efforts.
“I should have won that award more than anybody who ever received the Nobel Peace Prize because nobody settled wars. I settled eight of them because of a certain type of personality. I was able to settle,” Trump said.
Repeating his claims on India and Pakistan, Trump said he warned both countries that continued fighting would invite steep economic penalties.
“I said, if you keep fighting, I’m going to put a 200% tariff on your country. Said the same thing to the other. I did it with India and with Pakistan,” he said.
India has repeatedly rejected mediation claims
India has consistently rejected the claims. India has maintained that the understanding to halt military action was reached solely through direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan, without any third-party mediation.
The tensions followed the April 2025 terror attack in Pahalgam, in which 26 people were killed. In response, India launched precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor.
