US President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated his claims of preventing wars across the globe, including between India and Pakistan, while defending his administration’s push for ceasefires in conflicts that, as Fox News host Sean Hannity noted, “do not impact the United States as much as [they do] allies in Europe.”
President Donald Trump talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.(AP)
The US President’s remarks came just hours after a highly anticipated summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no agreement to resolve or pause Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
In an interview on Hannity, the Fox News primetime show, Trump was asked why he was investing time and energy into disputes seemingly far from US shores.
Sean Hannity asked him: “This (Ukraine war) does not impact United States as much as it does our allies in Europe. But you are doing it anyway. Why?”
Trump responded that his actions were motivated by a desire to save lives and avoid catastrophic escalation.
Donald Trump said, “Number one, to save lives in all cases. Cause wars are wars. See what would have happened with Cambodia as an example. I was involved with negotiating a trade.”
Trump went on to claim that India and Pakistan ceasefire wouldn’t have been possible without his involvement, a claim that has been repeatedly denied by India.
“Take a look at India and Pakistan. They were shooting down airplanes already. And that would have been maybe nuclear. I would have said it was gonna get nuclear, but I was able to get it done. Number one is lives, number two is everything else,” Trump said.
The US President in the past has claimed that without his involvement, “six major wars” would be raging globally. “India would be fighting with Pakistan. You see what we did yesterday with two nations that we were trading with,” he said, referring to the recent ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia after five days of border clashes that left at least 33 people dead.
Trump said he had warned the two Southeast Asian nations that Washington would not pursue trade deals with them unless they agreed to halt fighting. “We got them settled in 24 hours,” he added.
India rejects Trump’s ascertions
Trump’s latest comments come amid repeated denials from New Delhi over his claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan earlier this year. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told Parliament that the understanding with Pakistan was reached through direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs), without any US involvement.
“I want to make two things very clear. One, at no stage in any conversation with the United States was there any linkage with trade and what was going on,” Jaishankar said, adding that there was no call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump during the period Trump referred to.
Despite these denials, Trump has repeatedly insisted that his administration “got it done,” framing his role as central in preventing escalation between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Since May, Trump has cited the India-Pakistan ceasefire alongside other disputes to underline his foreign policy record. He has also claimed credit for pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, saying recently that he gave Putin a “10 or 12 day” deadline to end the war.