Key points
- Nobel Peace Prize claim reiterated
- Pakistan acknowledges Trump’s intervention
- India disputes US role in ceasefire
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has once again highlighted his claimed role in ending the May 2025 military escalation between Pakistan and India, renewing his argument that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaking to reporters on Friday after a meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House, Trump was asked about Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s reported offer to share a Nobel Peace Prize with him. Trump used the opportunity to reiterate his record as a peacemaker, saying he had helped end multiple conflicts during his time in office.
“Whether people like Trump or don’t like Trump, I settled eight wars — big ones,” he said, including what he described as a rapidly escalating conflict between India and Pakistan. Trump claimed the situation had involved aerial combat and warned that it could have spiralled into a nuclear confrontation without his intervention.
Ceasefire
He said he arranged a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbours “in rapid order”, adding that saving lives mattered more to him than awards. Trump also contrasted his record with that of former president Barack Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
Trump recalled a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in September, saying the Pakistani leader had publicly credited him with helping avert a major war and saving millions of lives.
Tensions between Pakistan and India rose sharply in April 2025 following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOK), which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without presenting evidence. Pakistan strongly denied the allegations. After weeks of cross-border hostilities, a ceasefire was announced in May.
India has disputed Trump’s repeated assertions that the ceasefire resulted from his direct intervention or trade-related pressure, maintaining that the agreement was reached bilaterally.
