‘Eighth plane was badly wounded’: Trump once again boasts stopping India-Pak war — this time with a new number

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Nov 5) once again claimed that he stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan in May – this time with a new number of planes “wounded” during the military operations. Taking the credit for stopping hostilities between the two neighbours, Trump alleged that he threatened India and Pakistan that he wouldn’t make trade deals with them unless they agreed to peace.

Trump had first claimed four-five planes were downed during the conflict, then later said that seven were shot down, without specifying which side. In his latest claim, the US president, who was apparently “in the midst of a trade deal” with the two countries, has now said that while seven were shot down, an “eighth” plane was “badly wounded”.

“I was in the midst of a trade deal with India and Pakistan, and then I read on the front page of a certain newspaper...I heard they were going to war. Seven planes were shot down, and the eighth was badly wounded. Eight planes were shot down essentially. I said, this is war, and they are going at it. They are two nuclear nations. I said, ‘I’m not going to make any trade deals with you guys unless you agree to peace,’” Trump said in his address at the America Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday (Nov 5).

Trump further claimed that New Delhi and Islamabad were against the threat and said the conflict between them had nothing to do with trade deals with the US.

“The two nations said ‘No way. This has nothing to do...’ I said, ‘It has everything to do. You are nuclear powers. I’m not trading with you. We’re not making any deals with you if you’re at war with each other’,” he said. He added that the next day he received a call that the two countries had made peace. “I said, ‘Thank you. Let’s do trade’. Isn’t that great? Without tariffs, that would have never happened,” said Trump.

India has repeatedly denied the US president’s claims, saying that the two nations agreed to a ceasefire on May 10 after Pakistani commanders contacted their Indian counterparts to stop the conflict. Despite this, Trump has reiterated brokering the peace between the two countries.

Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targetting terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the deadly April 22 Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26.