Short-term memory loss? Trump changes claim of number of jets shot down in India-Pak conflict while taking ceasefire credit

Is it four, five, or seven? US President Donald Trump seems to forget his own claims and change them. While reiterating his claim of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May this year, Trump said that seven fighter jets were shot down during the military escalation between the two countries. The US president, however, earlier alleged that five jets were shot down, contrary to his recent claim.

Trump’s new claim

Speaking during a bilateral meeting with the South Korean President at the White House on Monday (Aug 25), Trump said, “I have stopped all of these wars. A big one would have been India and Pakistan.”

“The war with India and Pakistan was the next level that was going to be a nuclear war... They already shot down seven jets - that was raging. I said, ‘You want to trade? We are not doing any trade or anything with you if you keep fighting, you’ve got 24 hours to settle it’. They said, ‘Well, there’s no more war going on.’ I used that on numerous occasions. I used trade and whatever I had to use,” the US president said.

What did Trump claim earlier?

Last month, the Republican leader claimed that five planes were downed during the conflict between “two serious nuclear countries.” What’s more interesting is that Trump did not clarify which country shot down how many jets on both occasions.

“We stopped a lot of wars. And these were serious, India and Pakistan, that was going on. Planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down, actually,” Trump said, seemingly unsure of the number. “These are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other... India and Pakistan were going at it, and they were back and forth, and it was getting bigger and bigger, and we got it solved through trade.”

How many jets were shot down?

Earlier this month, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh confirmed that Indian forces downed at least five Pakistani fighter jets and another large aircraft in May during Operation Sindoor, which was launched in response to the deadly Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. During the operation, India successfully targeted nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The two nations reached an understanding of a ceasefire after four days of military conflict.

The Air Chief Marshal added that Pakistani jets were shot down by the S-400 air defence systems, marking “the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill.”

New Delhi has also rejected the repeated claims of mediation made by Trump, stressing that a ceasefire was reached bilaterally after a call from Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) to their Indian counterpart, and no third party was involved.