'Don't want to say I did, but…': In Qatar, Trump reiterates he ‘settled’ India-Pakistan tensions

United States President Donald Trump, for the sixth time, has repeated that he helped “settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan that escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. Addressing US military personnel at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Donald Trump said, “And by the way, I don't want to say I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was getting more and more hostile.”

“And all of a sudden, you'll start seeing missiles of a different type. And we got it settled. I hope, I hope I don't walk out of here and two days later find out that it's not settled, but I think it is settled,” Trump said.

This is one of the multiple times Donald Trump has tried to assert his influence in the India-Pakistan ‘bilateral agreement’, claiming it was he who brokered peace between New Delhi and Islamabad.

In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, India in the early hours of May 7, carried out precision strikes under ‘Operation Sindoor’, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). At least 100 were killed. Also Read | Trump repeats India-Pakistan ceasefire claims, says ‘let's not trade nukes… have dinner’ | WATCH

Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to breach Indian airspace on May 8, 9 and 10 but failed. The Indian forces launched a fierce counter-attack on several Pakistani military installations. On May 10 late evening, India and Pakistan reached an understanding to end the conflict.

India maintained that it was the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan who dialled his Indian counterpart to halt all military action on land, air and sea, with immediate effect. No third party was involved.

‘Pakistan, India were very happy with trade offer’: Trump

In his address to US troops on Thursday, Donald Trump again claimed that he had talked to India and Pakistan about “trade”.

“Let's do trade instead of do war. And Pakistan was very happy with that, and India was very happy with that, and I think they're on the way, you know, they have been fighting for about 1,000 years in all fairness,” he said as he laughed slightly.

"So I said, you know, I could settle that up. I can settle anything. Let me set it up. Let's get them all together. How long have you been fighting? About 1,000 years. Oh, that's a lot. I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure about settling. That's a tough one. They've been fighting for a long time, but we got that settled. Nobody, boy, everybody was very happy. I'll tell you that looked like it was really going to be escalating out of control,” he added.

(With agency inputs)