In a striking claim made during a public address, US President Donald Trump asserted that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had told him that as many as 35 million people could have died during India’s Operation Sindoor if Trump had not intervened. The statement marked the first time Trump attributed such a specific casualty estimate to Sharif while reiterating his broader claim that he had prevented a potential nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan.
Speaking during his first State of the Union address of his second presidential term, Trump repeated his assertion that he had helped end eight global conflicts within his first ten months in office. Among the disputes he listed were tensions involving 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. While presenting these claims as evidence of his diplomatic achievements, Trump maintained that the India-Pakistan crisis could have escalated into a nuclear war without his involvement.
According to Trump, Sharif had personally conveyed that millions of lives were at risk during the conflict, stating that approximately 35 million people might have been killed had the situation continued unchecked. The US president framed this as proof of the scale of danger posed by the confrontation and emphasised his role in preventing escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
India, however, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s assertions that Washington played a mediating role in ending hostilities. Indian officials have maintained that there was no third-party intervention in de-escalating the situation. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar dismissed suggestions of American mediation, remarking that the United States remained geographically distant from the operational developments. According to India’s official account, the de-escalation occurred after Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations contacted his Indian counterpart through established military hotlines, requesting a halt to hostilities, which eventually led to what Indian authorities described as a ceasefire understanding.
Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7 following a terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22 that resulted in the deaths of 26 tourists. The operation targeted infrastructure linked to militant organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Indian officials described the strikes as counter-terror operations aimed at dismantling terror networks rather than initiating a broader military conflict.
Trump’s renewed claims have generated political sensitivity in Pakistan as well, particularly because Islamabad had previously nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing what it described as his diplomatic efforts in preventing escalation between the two countries. His latest remarks, which publicly attributed a dramatic casualty estimate to Pakistan’s leadership, have drawn attention to the differing narratives presented by Washington, New Delhi, and Islamabad regarding how the crisis ultimately de-escalated.
