WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has claimed that he personally urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to avoid going to war with Pakistan, saying he helped defuse multiple potential conflicts through diplomatic pressure and trade leverage.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he had a “great conversation” with Modi earlier in the day, describing it as focused on trade and peace. “We talked about trade — he’s very interested in that,” Trump said, adding, “We also discussed avoiding conflict. I told him, let’s have no wars with Pakistan.”
Trump linked the discussion on commerce with efforts to maintain peace, saying trade cooperation often plays a crucial role in easing geopolitical tensions. “And we have no war between Pakistan and India — that’s a very good thing,” he remarked, calling Modi “a great person and a great friend.”
The former president went on to assert that he had prevented eight potential wars during his tenure by using trade negotiations and economic deals as tools of diplomacy — including one between India and Pakistan.
“During the Pakistan-India conflict, seven planes were shot down,” Trump recalled. “I called both sides and told them that if they went to war, the United States would stop trading with them. Within 24 hours, they both called back and said they didn’t want to fight.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for helping to cool tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations, which have fought three major wars and remain locked in a bitter dispute over Jammu and Kashmir a disputed territory between India and Pakistan.
In May 2025, a deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam region triggered one of the worst military escalations between Pakistan and India in decades. New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the assault that killed 26 civilians — an accusation Pakistan denied.
The confrontation led to several days of cross-border strikes. India carried out unprovoked attacks inside Pakistan, prompting a swift counteroffensive by the Pakistan Armed Forces under Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos, which reportedly resulted in the downing of six Indian fighter jets, including three Rafales, before a US-brokered ceasefire ended hostilities on May 10.
Trump also revealed that energy and trade relations were part of his latest discussion with Modi, saying the Indian leader assured him that India would scale back its oil imports from Russia.
“He’s not going to buy much oil from Russia. He wants that war [in Ukraine] to end as much as I do,” Trump stated.
Both India and China are among the largest importers of Russian crude oil. Trump’s administration has recently imposed tariffs on Indian exports as part of efforts to discourage New Delhi from purchasing Russian oil and to increase pressure on Moscow to negotiate peace in Ukraine.
“I spoke with Prime Minister Modi, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. When asked about India’s denial of such a conversation, Trump responded bluntly: “If they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs — and they don’t want that.”
The issue of Russian oil imports has become a key sticking point in ongoing US-India trade discussions, with Trump maintaining that half of his administration’s 50% tariffs on Indian goods were imposed in response to those purchases. According to the US government, Moscow’s oil revenues continue to finance its war in Ukraine.
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