Trump says Pak PM told him millions would have died without his intervention

US President Donald Trump claimed in his State of the Union address that Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif told him 35 million lives were saved due to US intervention averting an India-Pakistan nuclear war, a claim India continues to deny

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told him that 35 million people would have died if it were not for his intervention in stopping the war between India and Pakistan.

In his over 100-minute-long State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump repeated his claim that he had helped prevent what could have turned into a nuclear war between the two South Asian neighbours.

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“In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars… including Pakistan and India, which would have been a nuclear war. Thirty-five million people, said the Prime Minister of Pakistan, would have died if it were not for my involvement,” Trump said.

The US President has previously made similar claims, stating that Sharif had credited him with saving millions of lives by helping end the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours. On earlier occasions, Trump had cited lower figures, including 25 million and later 10 million lives.

Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for stopping the conflict between India and Pakistan, an assertion he has now made about 100 times since May 10 last year, when he announced on social media that India and Pakistan agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention.

In his address, Trump also listed several other conflicts that he claimed to have helped resolve, including Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Congo and Rwanda, and the war in Gaza, which he said was now proceeding “at a very low level”.

Trump said the US is restoring security at home and abroad.

“We’re proudly restoring safety for Americans at home and we are also restoring security for Americans abroad. Our country has never been stronger,” the president said in his second State of the Union address of his second term in the White House.

At one point, some Democratic lawmakers interrupted Trump’s speech, prompting him to respond, “Isn’t it funny? Sick people.”