India and Pakistan war could have been nuclear, 10 planes were shot down: Trump
New York/Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump repeated the claim that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan last year, which he said could have turned nuclear, through tariffs.
"I settled eight wars. Of the eight wars, at least six were settled because of tariffs. In other words, I said, ‘if you don't settle this war, I'm going to charge you tariffs, because I don't want to see people getting killed,” Trump said in an interview to Fox Business Tuesday.
"And they said, ‘Well, what does this have to do?’ I said, ‘you're going to be charged’. Like India and Pakistan. It would have been a nuclear war, in my opinion. They were really going at it, 10 planes were shot down. They were going at it,” Trump said.
He added that the Prime Minister of Pakistan said, ‘President Trump saved at least 10 million lives when he got us to stop fighting’. Because they were going to go nuclear, (in) my opinion. Without tariffs, that wouldn't happen,” Trump said.
Trump has claimed credit for stopping the India-Pakistan conflict for more that 80 times since May 10 last year, when he announced on social media that the two neighbours had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after talks mediated by Washington.
India has consistently denied any third-party intervention.
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.
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Top US counterterrorism official resigns over Iran war, says Iran posed no imminent threat
Washington (AP): Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, announced his resignation on Tuesday, saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration's war in Iran.
Kent said on social media Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
There was no immediate comment from the White House.
Kent, a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists, was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote.
As head of the National Counterterrorism Centre, he was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats.
Before entering President Donald Trump's administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state. He also served in the military, seeing 11 deployments as a Green Beret, followed by work at the CIA.
Democrats strongly opposed Kent's confirmation, pointing to his past ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories. During his 2022 congressional campaign, Kent paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right military group the Proud Boys, for consulting work. He also worked closely with Joey Gibson, the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, and attracted support from a variety of far-right figures.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Kent also refused to distance himself from a conspiracy theory that federal agents instigated the January 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, as well as false claims that Trump, a Republican, won the 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden.
Democrats grilled Kent on his participation in a group chat on Signal that was used by Trump's national security team to discuss sensitive military plans.
Still, Republicans praised Kent's counterterrorism qualifications, pointing to his military and intelligence experience.
Sen. Tom Cotton, the GOP chair of the intelligence committee, said in a floor speech that Kent had "dedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe.”
