Trump again Claims US Stopped India – Pakistan War by Threatening to Derail Trade Deals
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 19: On the eve of the beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament with the opposition INDIA block expected to raise the Pahalgam terror attack and the US role in halting India’s subsequent response through “Operation Sindoor,” the US president Donald Trump again asserted his oft-repeated claim of having stopped the India – Pakistan war.
Mr Trump on Friday reiterated his claim of stopping the four-day war between India and Pakistan using “trade deal” as a tool. Trump has made this claim numerous times since May 10, the day an “understanding” to halt the fight was negotiated among the two rival neighbours, even as India and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi have insisted that the ceasefire agreement was the result of a direct talks between the directors of military operations of the two countries and no third country, including the US had played any role in stopping the war.
Speaking at a private dinner with Republican lawmakers at the White House on Friday evening, Mr Trump claimed that “five jets were shot down” in the recent conflict between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, but did not specify which country was at the receiving end. “In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually,” Trump said, referring to the brief but intense military exchange between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
The claim, while lacking in detail, brought back focus on Operation Sindoor, India’s retaliatory military operation launched in early May following the deadly terror attack on April 22 in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. The attack killed 26 people, mostly innocent tourists, prompting air and missile strikes that escalated over a four-day period.
Pakistan has consistently claimed that its air force downed Indian jets during the engagement, including three French-built Rafale fighters, and that it had captured Indian pilots. Islamabad has not provided any evidence to substantiate these claims.
India, in contrast, has largely refrained from detailing its losses. However, in the weeks following the ceasefire, Indian Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan acknowledged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) did lose aircraft but dismissed the Pakistani narrative of six Indian jets being destroyed. General Chauhan then went on to describe India’s ability to quickly adapt tactics, learning from early errors, and launching successful subsequent waves of long-range precision strikes deep inside Pakistani territory.
“We were able to do precision strikes on heavily air-defended airfields of Pakistan deep 300 kilometres inside, with the precision of a metre,” he said. India has consistently said that no Rafale fighters were lost, and denied any Indian pilots were captured or detained. Air Marshal A.K. Bharti had said on May 11 that all Indian pilots had returned safely.
On June 15, Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, the French manufacturer of the Rafale, had also called Pakistan’s claims “factually incorrect.” “What Pakistan is claiming about downing three Rafales is simply not true,” Mr Trappier said. “What we already know is that what the Pakistanis are saying about destroying three Rafale planes is inaccurate. When the complete details are known, the reality may surprise many.”
Trump reiterated that the ceasefire, announced on May 10, was the result of US diplomatic intervention, although India has consistently pushed back on that narrative. “We stopped a lot of wars. And these were serious, India and Pakistan, that was going on. These are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other. You know, it seems like a new form of warfare. You saw it recently when you looked at what we did in Iran, where we knocked out their nuclear capability, totally knocked out that… But India and Pakistan were going at it, and they were back and forth, and it was getting bigger and bigger, and we got it solved through trade. We said, you guys want to make a trade deal. We’re not making a trade deal if you’re going to be throwing around weapons, and maybe nuclear weapons, both very powerful nuclear states,” the US President claimed.
India has disputed Trump’s version of events. Its official position is that New Delhi and Islamabad resolved the crisis bilaterally and that no foreign mediator played a decisive role. Indian officials have also rejected the idea that the US threatened to suspend trade talks to secure peace.
Operation Sindoor began on the night of May 7 with coordinated strikes by the Air Force, Army and Navy. Over the next 72 hours, India conducted a series of attacks on what it called “terrorist infrastructure and military assets” across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Trump’s claims were refuted by India last month, when Prime Minister Modi spoke to Mr Trump over a phone call. PM Modi had made it clear to Trump that India never accepted mediation, nor will it in the future. “The discussion on halting military actions took place directly between India and Pakistan through existing military channels, at Pakistan’s request. PM Modi emphasised that India has never accepted mediation, does not accept it, and will never accept it,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had said, sharing details about the exchange between the two leaders.
Trump has repeated his unsubstantiated claims on numerous occasions, despite India’s refusal. The opposition parties had many a times demanded a statement from the government on Mr Trump’s claims but has remained unanswered. With Mr Trump’s reiteration just on the eve of the monsoon session beginning from Monday, the issue is likely to occupy the centre-stage of the session and disrupt the Parliament proceedings.
