Once more, President Donald Trump found himself in the middle of an intense global situation when he accused Indians and Pakistanis of threatening to kill each other at his State of the Union address.
He quoted the prime minister of Pakistan, Shehzad Das, claiming that without his help, 35 million people would be dead today due to what Trump termed “an ongoing crisis” between the two nations.
According to Trump, the Sindoor operation – a recent military operation by the Indians against the Pakistani people – would have led to nuclear war. This is a controversial issue that has received significant media attention.
Operation Sindoor And Rising Tensions
Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7, 2025. The strikes targeted terror infrastructure that New Delhi alleged was located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This operation was a direct response to the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 civilians.
Tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries grew significantly after this operation; diplomatic channels were active, but on the other hand, military movements were also closely monitored by both sides, and the risk of an escalation was very real.
Trump has since indicated that he believes US pressure prevented an escalation of tensions, telling Congress that without his intervention, there would have been a nuclear war between Pakistan and India. He also claimed that he would have imposed 200% tariffs on both countries if they did not agree to stop fighting.
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India Rejects Third-Party Mediation
Delhi gives an alternative view. Officials from India have continuously said that no third-party intervention has taken place. They believe that both military directors-general talked directly and established the basis on which fighting was stopped. This was done through established military communications between them. This difference serves as the basis for much of the debate. Since the time of his first tweet announcing that he had mediated talks between the two sides and reached an agreement for an open, immediate ceasefire in May, Trump has repeated this claim over 80 times. This is part of a larger message from Trump. In fact, according to him, he has ended 8 other wars over the past 10 months of his 2nd term and is currently working on ending his 9th, the Russia–Ukraine war.
Politics, Power And Perception
The claim that 35 million lives hang in the balance has significant emotional impact. It illustrates that nuclear war would have a devastating impact on humankind and yet raises new questions about what that means. To date, any independent estimates that would confirm such a figure have not been released, and the Indian government has not acknowledged any involvement of the US government as a mediator.
However, what is clear is that the relationship between these two countries continues to be tenuous. The operation known as Operation Sindoor has been one of the most significant escalations of hostilities in many years, and whether US diplomatic efforts have played an important role in any of this is dependent on who you ask in the respective capitals.
In international relations, perception is often greater than actuality.
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