Trump reasserts role in India-Pakistan ceasefire, mentions ‘very nasty N word’

US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump has once again claimed credit for helping broker peace between India and Pakistan, stating that the countries’ animosity had escalated to a point where nuclear conflict was a likely next step.

Trump made the claim in an interview to Fox News on Friday, adding that his talking to India and Pakistan and bringing them back from the brink is a “bigger success" than he’ll ever be given credit for.

“A bigger success than I'll ever be given credit for. Those are major nuclear powers. Those are not like a little bit, and they were angry,” Trump said.

The US President was questioned about the “couple of foreign policy successes” before heading to the Middle East, referencing the moment he made phone calls to India and Pakistan to address rising tensions. Trump replied, “I did, ya”.

The interviewer said the calls were a success. Trump, detailing about the escalation between the two countries, said, “…the next phase was probably, did you see where it was getting? It was tit for tat. It was getting deeper and more, I mean, more missiles, everyone was ‘stronger, stronger’, so to a point where the next one's going to be, you know what? The N word. You know the N word is, right?” Trump asked the interviewer, to which he replied “nuclear”.

“It's the N word. That’s a very nasty word, right? In a lot of ways. The N word used in a nuclear sense, that's the worst thing that can happen. And I think they were very close. The hatred was great. And I said, ‘We're going to talk about trade. We're going to do a lot of trade’,” Trump said.

While Trump has been claiming that US helped in mediating the ceasefire, the Indian government has maintained that it was reached due to bilateral talks between DGMOs of the two nations.

What happened between India and Pakistan?

Early on May 7, India carried out precision strikes under 'Operation Sindoor' on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26.

Following India's action, Pakistan launched an attack on Indian military bases along with some civilian targets which was successfully repelled by India's aerial defence system. The Indian forces launched a fierce counter-attack on several Pakistani military installations which rattled the Pakistani Army and its government forcing them to initiate a call between the respective DGMOs.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the military confrontation after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

On May 10, Trump had announced that India and Pakistan agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington.