US President Donald Trump has termed his attempts to broker peace between India and Pakistan and avert their slide into war as a "bigger success" than he thinks he will ever receive credit for.
He underlined the deep enmity between the two nations and cautioned that tensions had risen to the point where the next action might have been "nuclear.
Telling a Fox News interviewer Friday, Trump stated, "A greater success than I will ever receive credit for. Those are great nuclear powers. Those are not like a little bit, and they were furious."
Asked about the "couple of foreign policy successes" preceding his Middle East trip, during which he phoned India and Pakistan, Trump answered, "I did, ya.
The interviewer added that this was in fact a success. Trump went on to clarify, "And the second stage was likely, did you see where it was heading? It was tit for tat. It was getting deeper and more, I mean, more missiles, everybody was 'stronger, stronger', so to the point where the next one's going to be, you know what? The N word. You know the N word is, right?" To which the interviewer added, "nuclear."
Trump went on, "It's the N word. That's a very bad word, right? In many ways. The N word employed in nuclear form, that's the worst. And I believe they were close. The hatred was tremendous. And I said, 'We're going to discuss trade. We're going to have a great amount of trade.'
He went on to say, "I'm using trade to pay homage and to make peace. India… they're one of the highest tariff countries in the world, they make it nearly impossible to do business. Do you know that they're willing to cut 100 per cent of their tariffs for the United States?" India has not yet issued any official announcement regarding this, though.
When asked when an agreement with India was going to happen, Trump responded, "Yeah, that'll come soon. I'm in no rush. Look, everybody wants to make a deal with us." He added, "South Korea wants to make a deal…but I'm not going to make deals with everybody. I'm just going to set the limit. I'll make another some deals… because I can't, you can't meet with that many people.". I've got 150 nations that are willing to make deals.
This interview was the seventh time in seven days that Trump repeated his assertion of having "helped settle" the conflict between India and Pakistan. Previously, India had carried out targeted strikes under 'Operation Sindoor' on terror infrastructure on May 7, in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack which claimed 26 lives.
In response to India's move, Pakistan made attempts on Indian military installations on May 8, 9, and 10, which led to Indian troops launching severe counterattacks against several Pakistani military installations.
On the fourth day of heavy cross-border missile and drone combat, India and Pakistan agreed on May 10 to suspend military hostilities.
On the same day, Trump said that following a "long night" of negotiations facilitated by Washington, India and Pakistan had reached a "full and immediate" ceasefire.
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