US President Donald Trump has again taken credit for preventing a full-blown war between India and Pakistan—a charge India has consistently denied. Addressing a White House reception on July 23, 2025, Trump said that his threats of a trade halt prevented both countries from engaging in a nuclear war. He claimed five planes were brought down in the confrontation and that he intervened by threatening to stop trade.
His latest statement is the 25th time in 73 days that he has used this version of events. Opposition leaders have cried out strongly while the government of India has maintained stony silence, accusing PM Narendra Modi of repeatedly ignoring misinformation.
Trump’s Bold Claim: Planes Downed, War Averted
Trump at the White House ceremony said, “We halted wars between India and Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.” He asserted five fighter aircraft were shot down in the India-Pakistan standoff, which almost escalated to nuclear war. “It was back and forth. I called them and said, ‘No more trade.”. If you do this, it’s not going to be good.’ They’re both powerful nuclear nations, and that would have happened. I stopped it,” he said.
#WATCH | US President Donald Trump says, “We have stopped wars between India and Pakistan. They were probably going to end up in a nuclear war. They shot down five planes in the last attack. It was back and forth, back and forth. I called them and I said no more trade if you do… pic.twitter.com/r5BRaO11aF
— ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2025
Trump also took credit for preventing conflicts in Iran, Kosovo, and Serbia, adding, “We took out Iran’s entire nuclear capability.”
India Maintains Silence as Trump Repeats
Even after Trump’s renewed assertion today for the 25th time since May, there has been no formal denial or statement by the Indian government. New Delhi has made no acknowledgement of such an aerial confrontation of five lost jets or of Trump’s involvement in a ceasefire. Islamabad has also not ratified Trump’s account of events.
India’s silence has come under withering domestic attack, particularly by the opposition. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to X to ask why the Prime Minister remained silent. “He has boasted his boast 25 times in 73 days, but the Prime Minister of India hasn’t spoken a word—instead choosing to go abroad and destabilize democratic institutions here,” he said.
Jairam Ramesh also criticised the PM Modi government for not providing a strict date for discussing the Pahalgam-Sindoor matter in Parliament. He charged the Prime Minister with shirking responsibility both domestically and internationally.
Rewriting History or Trade Diplomacy?
Trump has all along attributed his “trade-first” diplomacy to having defused global crises. But in India and Pakistan, there has been no third-party corroboration. His recourse to repeated mention of a nuclear standoff and shot-down aircraft finds no corroboration in official documents or public communications from either nation.
Until New Delhi responds, Trump’s account of intervention will be a one-sided story—boisterous on the world stage, but unanswered at home.
