New York: Known to make inconsistent comments, US President Donald Trump now claims that eight planes were shot down during the war between India and Pakistan in May, once again without specifying who they belonged to.
Addressing the America Business Forum in Miami, Florida, Wednesday, President Trump updated the number of planes downed between the two countries to eight from seven. Until now, the US President has been maintaining that seven planes were shot down during the conflict.
“Pakistan and India…I was in the midst of a trade deal with both of them, and then… I heard they were going to war. Seven planes were shot down, and the eighth was really badly wounded… Eight planes were shot down essentially,” Trump said.
Trump also reiterated that India and Pakistan “made peace” after he threatened the two nuclear-armed neighbours with snapping trade deals if they continued their military conflict, a claim he has repeated several times since then.
“I said, this is war… ‘I’m not going to make any trade deals with you guys unless you agree to peace. ‘ The two nations said, ‘No way. This has nothing to do…’ I said, ‘It has everything to do. You are nuclear powers. I’m not trading with you. We’re not making any deals with you if you’re at war with each other,” Trump claimed.
“A day later, I get a call saying, ‘We made peace’. They stopped. I said, ‘Thank you. Let’s do trade. Isn’t that great? Tariffs did that… Without tariffs, that would have never happened,” Trump said amid applause.
He said that in eight months, he ended eight wars, including Kosovo and Serbia, and Congo and Rwanda, that were going on for a long time.
Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire” after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between the two neighbouring countries.
India has consistently denied any third-party intervention.
India launched Operation Sindoor May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
In his remarks in Miami, Trump went on to add that he helped solve the conflict between Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and Cambodia and Thailand.
“All of them were in war… Some of the wars were 32 years old. One was 38 years old. I got some of these settled in an hour. No help from the United Nations at all,” Trump said.
He added that around the world, America is making peace through strength “because they know they’re not going to mess around with us. Nobody’s going to mess around with us”.
Trump also spoke about the deals he made with China last week, as well as with Japan and Malaysia.
“All great economic deals, great for everybody,” the US president said.
PTI
