London, Jul 28 (PTI): US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed, yet again, that if he had not intervened in time with a threat of stopping all trade negotiations, India and Pakistan would have been at war.
Addressing the media in Scotland, along with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of their official talks, Trump took credit for stepping in to prevent “six major wars” around the world, including between India and Pakistan.
He was responding to a question about pushing Israel towards ending the conflict in Gaza just hours after ceasefire talks with Hamas collapsed.
“We have many ceasefires going on… If I weren’t around, you would have six major wars going on – India would be fighting with Pakistan,” Trump said while addressing the media from his Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
“We have many hotspots that were at war. I think a very big one was India and Pakistan because you are talking about two nuclear nations. That was a very big one,” said Trump, who is on a private visit to Scotland since Friday.
Trump said, “I know the leaders of Pakistan and India. I know (them) very well. And they're in the midst of a trade deal, and yet they're talking about nuclear weapons… this is crazy. So, I said I'm not doing a trade deal with you guys. And they want the trade deal, they need it.
"[I said] I'm not doing a trade deal with you if you're going to have war, and that's a war that spreads to other countries, you'll get nuclear dust. We'll all get nuclear dust.
“When they start using nuclear weapons, that stuff blows all over the place and really bad things happen. So maybe we're being a little selfish when we want to save wars too. But we stopped a lot of wars and it's a great honour to have done it.”
India has repeatedly refuted claims of any mediation during Operation Sindoor, its military action in response to a Pakistan-backed deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22.
The precision strikes lasted between May 7 and 10, with New Delhi maintaining that they came to an end following direct talks between the militaries of both countries without any US mediation.
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Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
