Modi uses diplomatic honorific ‘Excellency’, not ‘Sir’: Officials

While speaking at the House GOP Member Retreat on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump claimed that Delhi’s order for Apache attack helicopters was delayed by five years and that PM Modi personally raised concerns over the long delivery period.

“I had India coming to me. Sir, I’ve been waiting five years … Prime Minister Modi came to see me. Sir, may I see you, please? and I said yes,” stated Trump.

India is yet to make an official statement on the matter if Modi referred to Trump as “Sir”.

Sources said Trump’s words were no more than a mis-representation of a discussion.

Trump even mentioned that India had ordered 68 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters from the US, which was far from reality, said officials.

India had ordered 28 such helicopters in two tranches and all of those were delivered albeit after a delay of almost two years.

Sources said an official rebuttal to Trump’s latest diplomatic missive was expected. This is not the first time that Trump-Modi interactions, made public by the US, would lead to be contradiction from India.

It happened during post-Operation Sindoor (May 7-10) phase when Trump claimed to have intervened and stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan. New Delhi has vehemently denied any such intervention.

India-US ties have been strained since tariff measures introduced by Trump. These tariffs were first set at 25% in August 2025 followed by another 25% punitive tariffs for purchase of Russian crude oil.

PM Modi and Trump had telephonic conversation on December 11 and discussed expanding cooperation in trade, critical technologies, energy, defence and security.

The phone call between the two happened less than a week since India hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin from December 4 to 5 for the annual leader’s summit, an event much watched and commented upon in the international media.