New Delhi– President Donald Trump has sparked controversy with a startling claim that “five jets were shot down” during the recent military confrontation between India and Pakistan, which followed the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, that killed 26 people.
Trump’s remarks were made during a private dinner with Republican lawmakers at the White House on Friday and have reignited debate over the tense four-day standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbours earlier this year.
“In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually,” Trump said, referring to the May military escalation between India and Pakistan. He did not specify which side lost aircraft or provide evidence to support the claim.
The Pahalgam attack had triggered India’s Operation Sindoor, a multi-branch military campaign targeting terrorist infrastructure across the Line of Control (LoC) and deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy were jointly involved in the strikes.
President Trump further claimed that the United States played a role in defusing the situation by leveraging trade negotiations.
“We stopped a lot of wars. And these were serious—India and Pakistan—that was going on. These are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other,” Trump said.
“You know, it seems like a new form of warfare… But India and Pakistan were going at it, and it was getting bigger and bigger, and we got it solved through trade. We said, ‘You guys want to make a trade deal? We’re not making a trade deal if you’re going to be throwing around weapons—and maybe nuclear weapons,’” he added.
India Rejects Mediation Claim
Trump’s comments have been met with skepticism in New Delhi, where officials maintain that no external power, including the US, played a mediating role in resolving the crisis.
Indian authorities emphasized that the situation was addressed bilaterally, and there was no loss of Indian fighter jets during the operation. On May 11, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti publicly confirmed that all Indian pilots involved in the operation had returned safely.
Government sources reiterated that Operation Sindoor was a calibrated military response to a major terror attack and was executed with strategic precision—without the need for foreign intervention.
Trump’s version of events, they noted, does not align with official or operational facts on the ground, especially regarding aircraft losses or the extent of US diplomatic involvement.
The former president’s remarks are expected to trigger further scrutiny, both domestically and internationally, over the evolving narrative surrounding India-Pakistan military tensions and the role of third-party diplomacy in South Asian security affairs. (Source: IANS)
