Washington: US President Donald Trump reiterated his claim that he mediated between India and Pakistan during the 2025 military standoff, claiming he had threatened to put 200 per cent tariffs on the two nuclear-armed neighbours if they didn’t stop the fighting. Speaking at his Board of Peace event, Trump inflated his earlier claims of aircraft losses, claiming that “11 jets were shot down” during the fighting.

India has consistently denied all claims about any third-party intervention during the armed conflict in May 2025. New Delhi’s stance on the loss of planes has also been at odds with Trump’s claim, with the Chief of Defence Staff declining to specify how many jets India lost. While never denying losses, the Indian Air Force has stated that no pilot involved in the operations was killed in action.

What Trump Said
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who also attended the Board of Peace event alongside leaders from other nations, faced an awkward moment when Trump asked him to stand up while discussing his so-called mediation skills.

He said, “Pakistan and India. That was a big one. I think you (Sharif) should actually stand. Come, please, stand just for a second. Pakistan and India. Thank you very much.”

The US leader then repeated his assertion that Sharif had claimed Trump saved “25 million lives” by mediating a truce between New Delhi and Islamabad.

“You made that statement,” Trump said to Sharif. “I said 25 million lives, could have been much more actually, but it was really a beautiful thing… That war was raging. Planes were being shot down, and it was Pakistan and India,” Trump said, inflating his earlier claim of saving “10 million lives by ending the conflict” between the two nations.

Trump claimed he used his tariff policy as leverage to mediate a peace deal and said, “I got on the phone with both of them, and I knew them a little bit. I knew Prime Minister Modi very well…I called them, and I said, listen, I’m not doing trade deals with you two guys if you don’t settle this up… And all of a sudden, we worked out a deal.”

“I said, if you fight, I’m going to put 200 per cent tariffs on each of your countries. They both wanted to fight. But when it came to money, it’s nothing like money. When it came to losing a lot of money, they said, I guess we don’t want to fight…11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets,” he added.

The claim marks the latest variation in a series of changing numbers offered by the US President over recent months. Earlier this month, he had put the figure at 10. In previous remarks last year, Trump initially spoke of five jets being shot down, later revising the number to seven in August, eight in November, then 10– and now 11.

Trump’s Repeated Claims and India’s Stand
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he stopped eight wars within the first year of his second term in the White House. He has claimed credit for stopping the India-Pakistan conflict more than 80 times since May 10 last year, when he announced on social media that the two neighbours had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after talks mediated by the US.

India, however, has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.