Stopped nuclear war, warned both with halting trade: Trump

US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that his administration “stopped” a possible nuclear war between India and Pakistan by threatening them with halting trade if they didn’t end the conflict.

India, however, rebutted the claim with sources saying that the US administration never brought up trade in any of the discussions it had with the Indian leadership after the launch of Operation Sindoor. The US administration made four calls to the Indian leadership — Vice-President JD Vance spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 9, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar twice on May 8 and 10, and once with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on May10. “There was no reference to trade in any of these discussions,” the sources said.

Trump, speaking at a press briefing in the White House, said he told the two sides that the US would do “a lot of trade” with them if they stopped the conflict, “if you don’t stop it, we’re not going to do any trade”.

“People have never really used trade the way I used it,” Trump said, adding “all of a sudden they (India-Pak) said ‘I think we’re going to stop’, and they have”.

The US President reiterated that his administration helped broker the understanding between the two sides on May 10 and that the “ceasefire” was permanent.

“On Saturday, my administration helped broker an immediate ceasefire, I think a permanent one, between India and Pakistan. Ending a dangerous conflict of two nations with lots of nuclear weapons. And they were going at it hot and heavy, and it was seemingly not going to stop,” he said.

He said both countries were “powerful” and that they had the wisdom to understand the gravity of the situation. “I’m very proud to let you know that the leadership of Indian and Pakistan was unwavering and powerful — they really were from the standpoint of having the strength, wisdom and fortitude to fully understand the gravity of the situation,” he said.

Trump thanked Vance and Rubio for reaching out to the two sides. “We stopped a nuclear conflict. I think it could have been a bad nuclear war. Millions of people could have been killed. I also want to thank VP Vance and Secretary of State Rubio for their work,” Trump said.