In a controversial statement, U.S. President Donald Trump has once again claimed that five fighter jets were shot down during the May conflict between India and Pakistan — and credited his administration for ending the hostilities through trade diplomacy.
Speaking at a dinner event at the White House for Republican senators on Friday, Trump said, “You had India, Pakistan, that was going. In fact, planes were being shot out of the air... four or five. But I think five jets were shot down actually. That was getting worse and worse, wasn't it?”
Trump did not clarify which country suffered the losses or whether the downed aircraft were from both sides. He further added, “That was looking like it was going to go — these are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other.”
Highlighting his supposed diplomatic intervention, Trump said, “But India and Pakistan were going at it, and they were back and forth, and it was getting bigger and bigger. And we got it solved through trade. We said, ‘You guys want to make a trade deal. We're not making a trade deal if you're going to be throwing around weapons and maybe nuclear weapons.’ Both very powerful nuclear states.”
Claiming broad diplomatic success, Trump continued, “Something I'm very proud of — we stopped a lot of wars, a lot of wars. And these were serious wars.”
However, India has firmly rejected any suggestion of external mediation in ending the May clashes. Official sources in New Delhi reiterated that the hostilities were de-escalated solely through direct communication between the Indian and Pakistani militaries. “There was no involvement of a third party,” an Indian defence official said, virtually rejecting Trump's repeated assertions.
The conflict escalated following Operation Sindoor, launched by India on May 7, in retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack. The offensive targeted terrorist infrastructure across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied territory. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam strike.
The four-day escalation ended on May 10 after mutual understanding to cease hostilities was reached through military dialogue between the two countries.
In a significant development, the U.S. Department of State on Thursday designated TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated, “The Department of State is adding The Resistance Front (TRF) as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”
