‘I stopped nuclear war’: Trump once again claims credit for averting Indo-Pak war

Washington: US President Donald Trump intensified his claims of personal peacemaking Thursday, asserting twice in a single day that his administration prevented a nuclear catastrophe between India and Pakistan during a military standoff last year.

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump included the South Asian rivals in a list of eight conflicts he claims to have resolved within a 12-month span. "In one year, I've ended eight raging wars, such as (the war between) Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan," he told the audience.

The president later took to Truth Social to elaborate on the claim, crediting his expansion of US military power, including the Space Force and a refurbished nuclear arsenal, as the primary deterrent against global conflict.

"The United States is the most powerful Country in the World," Trump posted. "I have stopped Nuclear Wars from breaking out across the World between Pakistan and India, Iran and Israel, and Russia and Ukraine."

Trump has repeated the claim of stopping an Indo-Pakistani war more than 90 times since May 10, 2025. That date marked his social media announcement of a "full and immediate" ceasefire between New Delhi and Islamabad following what he described as a "long night" of Washington-led mediation.

The 2025 conflict, sparked by a major terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, saw India launch retaliatory strikes under "Operation Sindoor" and led to a brief but intense aerial battle. While the U.S. maintains that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were instrumental in brokering the truce, New Delhi has consistently challenged this narrative.

Indian officials have repeatedly denied any third-party mediation, maintaining that the ceasefire resulted from direct hotline communications between the two nations' Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs). Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reaffirmed India's longstanding policy that all issues with Pakistan must be resolved bilaterally, without external intervention.

With inputs from PTI