Washington:
US President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that India and Pakistan were "very angry, and screamed and yelled" when the United States threatened high trade tariffs during Operation Sindoor last year, asserting that American diplomatic pressure brought an end to the hostilities.
However, New Delhi has firmly rejected any third-party intervention, maintaining that the cessation of military action was established entirely through direct bilateral channels.
Addressing reporters at Camp David following a televised meeting with cabinet members, the US President reiterated his assertion of halting multiple global conflicts during his presidency. He mentioned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking a deal to bring an end to the war in Ukraine before turning his attention to the South Asian region.
"We ended the India-Pakistan (war). 11 planes were shot down. That was raging. That was good. I used tariffs. I said, 'If you're going to go to war, 250 per cent tariff.' Each of them," Trump stated.
Detailing his version of events, Trump added, "And they (India and Pakistan) screamed and yelled and were very angry. They were both angry about it. A day later they called and they said, 'We will not go to war'."
The US President also claimed that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif credited him with saving 50 million lives by averting a wider conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
New Delhi has consistently disputed Trump's claims regarding the loss of 11 aircraft during the engagement while remaining steadfast in rejecting any external mediation.
India has reiterated that the ceasefire understanding during Operation Sindoor was reached only after Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) reached out to his Indian counterpart to request a halt in military action.
India had launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year as a decisive, targeted response to destroy terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK). The anti-terror operation was carried out to dismantle terror bases that were utilised to plan the horrific April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam.
Following effective Indian strikes that dismantled key terror launchpads, the operation was paused on May 10 after a formal request from the Pakistani side.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
