US President Donald Trump
NEW DELHI: “The Pakistani Prime Minister would have died if it were not for my involvement,” US President Donald Trump claimed during his State of the Union address, appearing to misspeak while referring to military tensions between the two nuclear-armed states, India and Pakistan, in May 2025.However, it was not clear whether this was what he intended to say, as he continued to describe his role in preventing a wider conflict. Trump cited what he said was praise from Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, noting that he had saved “35 million” people and portraying himself as a key player in calming military tensions.“In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars…Pakistan and India were going to go to nuclear war.
35 million people said the Prime Minister of Pakistan would have died if it weren’t for my involvement…” Trump said in his speech.
While he appeared to misspeak, what he apparently meant to say in the longest State of the Union address ever was that the Pakistani prime minister claimed that 35 million people would have died had Trump not been involved.The US president has repeatedly credited himself with bringing India and Pakistan to the negotiating table and avoiding a larger conflict.However, India strongly rejected any claim of third-party mediation to ease tensions during Operation Sindoor, a military operation targeting cross-border terrorism launched in retaliation for the Pakistan-sponsored Pahalgam terror attack.
