US President Donald Trump has once again claimed credit for helping resolve several global conflicts, including tensions between India and Pakistan, saying he thought brokering peace between the two countries would be harder than achieving a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One ahead of his Asia visit, Trump said, “I got it done (ceasefire). There are others. If you look at India and Pakistan, I could say almost any one of the deals that I’ve already done I thought would have been more difficult than Russia and Ukraine, but it didn’t work out that way. Russia-Ukraine is the most challenging conflict to solve.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that Washington played a key role in securing a “full and immediate” ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbours earlier this year.
Earlier this month, he credited his tariff threats as a major factor in bringing peace between several nations, asserting that he “would not have been able to solve eight global conflicts otherwise”.
However, India has consistently rejected Trump’s assertions, maintaining that any de-escalation with Pakistan occurred through direct bilateral talks, without any third-party mediation.
Trump repeats claim on Russian oil imports
The US president also reiterated his earlier claim that India would stop importing oil from Russia by the end of the year, a move he linked to his ongoing tariff actions against New Delhi.
“India is cutting back completely. I might discuss China buying Russian oil with Xi Jinping,” Trump said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured him India would halt such purchases.
“He’s assured me there will be no oil purchases from Russia. He can’t do it immediately—it’s a bit of a process, but it’s going to be over soon,” Trump had said earlier.
New Delhi, however, has denied any such commitment, stressing that energy security and consumer interests remain its top priorities.
Trump on meeting Putin
Trump also said he had put on hold plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit unless there was progress toward a Ukraine ceasefire deal.
“I’m going to have to know that we’re going to have a deal (with Putin). I’m not going to be wasting my time,” Trump said.
He added that while Putin had praised his efforts in resolving other conflicts, including between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the ongoing situation in Ukraine had been “very disappointing”.
“Putin told me on the phone, ‘Boy, that was amazing,’ because everybody tried to get that done and couldn’t,” Trump claimed, referring to past peace efforts.
Trump is currently on a three-nation tour of Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. He is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kuala Lumpur during the ASEAN Summit to discuss ways to prevent further escalation of the US-China trade war.
(With inputs from Reuters)
