 (6).png)
5 days ago
1
ARTICLE AD BOX
At SOTU 2026, Donald Trump claimed he prevented a nuclear war between India and Pakistan and saved Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s life, while touting that he had “ended eight wars” in his first 10 months of his second term.
Donald Trump used his 2026 State of the Union address to claim that he prevented the assassination of Pakistan’s Prime Minister and averted a nuclear war between India and Pakistan during last year’s hostilities. The remarks, delivered as part of a sweeping catalogue of foreign policy achievements, immediately drew scrutiny for their scale and specificity.
“In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars... Pakistan and India would have had a nuclear war. 35 million people said the Prime Minister of Pakistan would have died if it were not for my involvement,” Trump said.
The comments marked the first time he has publicly claimed to have saved Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s life by intervening in what he described as India’s “Operation Sindoor”.
Claim of averting ‘nuclear war’ between India and Pakistan
Trump has repeatedly asserted that his diplomacy halted a four-day military confrontation between India and Pakistan last year. Both nations possess nuclear weapons, and the crisis prompted global concern at the time.
However, the president’s latest remarks went further, suggesting that Pakistan’s leadership was directly at risk and that tens of millions could have perished without his intervention. He said that Shehbaz Sharif told him that “35 million people in Pakistan would have been killed” had the United States not stepped in.
Indian officials have consistently rejected the suggestion of American mediation. When asked previously about Trump’s claim of playing peacemaker, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar responded tersely that Trump “was in the US.”
New Delhi has maintained that any de-escalation resulted from direct military-to-military communication rather than external diplomacy.
‘Ended eight wars’: Trump' sweeping foreign policy claims
The India-Pakistan episode formed part of a broader declaration that he had resolved eight international conflicts during the first ten months of his second term.
“In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars,” Trump said, listing conflicts between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
The scope of the claim — spanning regions from the Middle East to Eastern Europe and South-East Asia — reflects an effort to portray his administration as architect of a stabilising global order. Independent verification of formal peace settlements across all listed conflicts remains contested.
‘We’re winning so much’: Economic reassurance ahead of midterms
The foreign policy assertions were woven into a broader argument that the United States is experiencing renewed prosperity under his leadership, as opinion polls suggest softening approval ratings ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Trump framed his address as evidence of economic resurgence and geopolitical strength.
“Our country is winning again. In fact, we're winning so much that we really don't know what to do about it. People are asking me, 'Please, please, please, Mister President, we're winning too much. We can't take it anymore,'” he said. “‘We're not used to winning in our country until you came along.’”
Seeking to cultivate bipartisan symbolism, he invited the Olympic gold-medal-winning United States men’s hockey team into the chamber to sustained applause, following their visit to the White House earlier in the day.
English (US) ·