Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his stand on India's ties with the United States.
"PM Modi standing up for India’s rights is going to be the episode that historians remember where the US truly learnt that you cannot kick India around," Rubin told ANI.
US President Donald Trump last week ordered steeper tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil.
Rubin’s remark comes ahead of Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska this Friday.
"The US purchases uranium hexafluoride and other strategic minerals from Russia. The US talks about gas from Azerbaijan as optimal, whereas the majority of its supply is Russian or Iranian. India is right to stand up for its rights. Once this episode passes, India-US relations will improve significantly," said Rubin.
According to India Today, Rubin described Trump as “a businessman used to horse-trading” who “does not understand that a bad peace deal can actually advance war” and has “the ambition to win the Nobel Peace Prize”.
He also said Pakistan Army Chief “Asim Munir is Osama Bin Laden in a suit”. “…there will be no amount of concession that will be given to Pakistan that is going to change his ideology or the Pakistani elite he represents,” he said.
#WATCH | Washington DC, USA | On upcoming meeting between US and Russia, Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin says, "...Asim Munir is Osama Bin Laden in a suit..."He says, "Donald Trump is a businessman and is used to horse-trading... He does not understand that a bad peace… pic.twitter.com/Cra1y24e19
— ANI (@ANI) August 12, 2025
Rubin also warned about Islamabad’s nuclear threats. “The fact that Pakistan is threatening half of the world with nuclear weapons is a clear indication that it has lost its right to be a legitimate state. It is near time when future administrations should enter Pakistan to secure its nuclear weapons because the alternative is simply too great to bear,” he said.
Munir reportedly threatened to take down "half the world" if Pakistan faced an existential threat in a future war with India. The remarks were the first nuclear threats known to have ever been delivered from US soil against a third country.
"We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we'll take half the world down with us," he said, according to reports.
India on Monday condemned Munir’s threat of nuclear war. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry noted that “nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan's stock-in-trade”.
“The international community can draw its own conclusions on the irresponsibility inherent in such remarks, which also reinforces the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in a state where the military is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups," the external affairs ministry stated.
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