During a bilateral meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump repeated his long-standing and highly disputed assertion that he intervened to halt a potential large-scale conflict between India and Pakistan.
The meeting marks the Crown Prince’s first visit to Washington since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
“We Stopped India and Pakistan”
Addressing reporters, President Trump claimed the White House has been instrumental in global conflict resolution.
Donald Trump: “We’ve done a lot of good with this office. I’ve actually stopped eight wars… I have another one to go with Putin. I’m a little surprised at Putin… But we stopped India and Pakistan. I could go through the list… I’m very proud.”
The President added that these diplomatic victories occurred “right here in the Oval Office,” either through telephone calls or in-person visits from global leaders.
The Operation Sindoor Conflict
President Trump was referring to the heightened border clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours that took place in May this year. The tensions followed Operation Sindoor, which was India’s military campaign of precision strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, launched in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 civilians.
Trump has consistently claimed that he secured a swift de-escalation by threatening to use trade tariffs and halt commerce with both nations, stating his intervention “settled” the conflict within 24 hours.
India Continues to Deny Mediation
While Pakistan has on several occasions praised President Trump’s role, New Delhi has consistently and firmly denied any third-party intervention.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has maintained that the cessation of hostilities was achieved through direct military-to-military communication between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries, and that the issue of trade was never discussed during talks with the US leadership.
The remarks drew immediate criticism from the Indian opposition. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at the government, noting that Trump has repeated the claim “60” times.
The meeting also saw President Trump defend the Saudi Crown Prince over the Khashoggi killing, contradicting US intelligence assessments by stating that MBS “knew nothing about it.”