London: US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed, yet again, that if he had not intervened in time with a threat of stopping all trade negotiations, India and Pakistan would have been at war.
Addressing the media in Scotland, along with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of their official talks, Trump took credit for stepping in to prevent “six major wars” around the world, including between India and Pakistan.
He was responding to a question about pushing Israel towards ending the conflict in Gaza just hours after ceasefire talks with Hamas collapsed.
“We have many ceasefires going on… If I weren’t around, you would have six major wars going on, India would be fighting with Pakistan,” Trump said while addressing the media from his Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
“We have many hotspots that were at war. I think a very big one was India and Pakistan because you are talking about two nuclear nations. That was a very big one,” said Trump, who has been on a private visit to Scotland since Friday.
Trump said, “I know the leaders of Pakistan and India. I know them very well. And they’re in the midst of a trade deal, and yet they’re talking about nuclear weapons… this is crazy. So, I said I’m not doing a trade deal with you guys. And they want the trade deal; they need it.
“[I said] I’m not doing a trade deal with you if you’re going to have war, and that’s a war that spreads to other countries, you’ll get nuclear dust. We’ll all get nuclear dust.
“When they start using nuclear weapons, that stuff blows all over the place, and really bad things happen. So maybe we’re being a little selfish when we want to save wars, too. But we stopped a lot of wars and it’s a great honour to have done it.”
India has repeatedly refuted claims of any mediation during Operation Sindoor, its military action in response to a Pakistan-backed deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam April 22.
The precision strikes lasted between May 7 and 10, with New Delhi maintaining that they came to an end following direct talks between the militaries of both countries without any US mediation.
PTI
