WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump repeated his assertion that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had told him that as many as 35 million people could have lost their lives if he had not stepped in to stop the hostilities between India and Pakistan, referring to the clashes in May 2025.
In his more than 100-minute State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump repeated his claim that he helped avert what could have escalated into a nuclear conflict between the two neighbours.
“In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars… including Pakistan and India, which would have been a nuclear war. Thirty-five million people, said the Prime Minister of Pakistan, would have died if it were not for my involvement,” Trump said.
The US President has previously made similar claims, stating that Sharif had credited him with saving millions of lives by helping end the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours. On earlier occasions, Trump had cited lower figures, including 25 million and later 10 million lives.
His most recent claim came during the February 19 ‘Board of Peace’ event in Washington where Trump repeated the assertion that Sharif had claimed he saved “25 million lives” when he stopped the war between India and Pakistan. He also raised the number of jets he claimed were shot down during the conflict to 11, up from an earlier figure of eight.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
Notably, Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for stopping the conflict between India and Pakistan, an assertion he has now made about 100 times since May 10 last year, when he announced on social media that India and Pakistan agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington.
However, India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations of the two militaries.
New Delhi has also reiterated its long-standing position that any issues with Pakistan, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, are to be resolved bilaterally between the two countries.
Meanwhile, in his State of the Union address, Trump also listed several other conflicts that he claimed to have helped resolve, including Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Congo and Rwanda, and the war in Gaza, which he said was now proceeding “at a very low level.”
Trump said the US is restoring security at home and abroad.
“We’re proudly restoring safety for Americans at home and we are also restoring security for Americans abroad. Our country has never been stronger,” the president said in his second State of the Union address of his second term in the White House.
At one point, some Democratic lawmakers interrupted Trump’s speech, prompting him to respond, “Isn’t it funny? Sick people.” With inputs from agencies
