Washington DC [US], June 7 : US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time) again claimed credit for brokering a cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, adding that he used trade as a weapon, leading to both countries stopping the war immediately.
Trump pointed out that a war between India and Pakistan could have gone nuclear if the US had not intervened between the two countries.
"You know, I did something that people don't talk about, and I don't talk about very much, but we solved a big problem, a nuclear problem potentially with India and with Pakistan. I spoke to Pakistan, I spoke to India, they have really great leaders, but they were going at it, and they could have gone at it nuclear," Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
Lauding the leadership of India and Pakistan, Trump said, "Both nuclear countries, strong nuclear countries, and I talked about trade and said, 'We're not doing trade if you guys are going to be throwing bombs at each other." They both stopped, and I stopped that war immediately. It was going much further, and hopefully, it would not go to nuclear, but it might have gone to nuclear. In fact, it might have gone to nuclear in the next round, but we stopped it, and I'd like to commend the leaders of both countries, Pakistan and India."
The issue stands as a bone of contention between the US and India, as on Friday, Aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yury Ushakov, endorsed US President Donald Trump's claim of having brokered a cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan. Ushakov said that the India-Pakistan conflict was resolved with 'personal' involvement of US President Donald Trump, as was discussed in a telephonic conversation between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The Middle East was discussed, as well as the armed conflict between India and Pakistan, which has been halted with the personal involvement of President Trump," he said.
Earlier, All-Party Delegation Leader and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that the delegation, during their meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, cleared the air around US President Donald Trump's claim of mediating between the India-Pakistan crisis.
"The meeting with Vice President Vance was outstanding, very good, very clear. I think we made our position amply clear on this question of mediation, and Vice President Vance fully understood our points," he said.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for stopping hostilities between India and Pakistan after New Delhi's effective response to Islamabad's aggression following precision strikes on terror infrastructure.
India had conducted Operation Sindoor early on May 7 and hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. India effectively responded to subsequent Pakistani aggression and pounded its airbases. India and Pakistan agreed to stop military action following a call made by Pakistan's DGMO to his Indian counterpart.