US President Donald Trump on Thursday softened his claim on mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. However, he continued to lay his claim that he played a role in convincing the two Asian countries.
Speaking at a public event during his visit to troops at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Trump said, “I don’t want to say I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between India and Pakistan last week, which was becoming more and more hostile. All of a sudden, you saw missiles of different types. We got it settled, and I hope when I walk out of here two days later, I don't find out it is not settled," Trump said while addressing US troops at a base in Qatar during his Gulf tour.
Reiterating his stance that US talked about trade with India and Pakistan while mediating ceasefire he said, "We talked to them about trade. I said let's do trade instead of war. Both India and Pakistan were very happy with that. They have been fighting for about a thousand years. I said I could settle this up. I can settle anything," the President added.
Notably, on Tuesday evening, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal however stated that no trade discussions took place between the two countries.
Answering a question, he said there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation from the time Operation Sindoor commenced but trade did not come up in any of these discussions.
"From the time Operation Sindoor commenced on May 7 till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on 10th May, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions," he said.
