‘Pak PM would have died’: Trump claims he stopped India–Pak ‘nuclear war’

US President Donald Trump has once again claimed that his intervention prevented a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, asserting during his State of the Union address that “35 million people would have died” without his involvement. Addressing Congress, Trump said he played a decisive role in ending the four-day military standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbours last May and even “saved” Pakistan’s Prime Minister during the escalation.

“In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars,” Trump said, listing India–Pakistan among the most serious crises. He claimed that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had told him that 35 million people could have died during India’s Operation Sindoor had the US not intervened. Trump, however, did not provide specific details about the nature or mechanism of American mediation in the conflict.

The standoff followed the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 tourists, after which India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Hostilities continued for four days before both sides reached what was described as a ceasefire understanding. India has consistently maintained that the de-escalation resulted from direct military-level communication between the two countries, rejecting claims of third-party mediation.

Trump reiterated that he had resolved eight global conflicts, naming disputes involving Israel–Hamas, Israel–Iran, Egypt–Ethiopia, Armenia–Azerbaijan, Serbia–Kosovo, Congo–Rwanda, and Cambodia–Thailand. He added that his administration was working toward ending the Russia–Ukraine war, which he described as a ninth ongoing conflict.

Using the address to project strong US global leadership, Trump characterised his presidency as ushering in a “golden age of America” and declared the country “back, bigger, richer, stronger and better than ever before.” His remarks on India and Pakistan mark the latest in a series of assertions about his diplomatic role in South Asia, even as New Delhi has repeatedly denied any external intervention in the ceasefire process.