Washington, Aug 27 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has once again claimed that he stopped the India and Pakistan war from “going nuclear” by threatening to impose tariffs and refusing to do any trade deals if they did not agree to a ceasefire.

Trump’s latest comments came on Tuesday during a cabinet meeting at the White House, where he also claimed that he had spoken with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I am talking to a very terrific man, Narendra Modi. I said, ‘What’s going on with you and Pakistan?' The hatred was tremendous. This has been going on for a hell of a long time, like, sometimes with different names for hundreds of years,” the US president said.

“I said, I don’t want to make a trade deal with you… You guys are going to end up in a nuclear war… I said, call me back tomorrow. But we’re not going to do any deals with you, or we’re going to put tariffs on you that are so high, your head’s going to spin,” he added.

“Within five hours, it was done. Maybe it starts again, but I will stop it if it does,” Trump went on to say.

Trump also claimed that “seven jets or maybe more than that” were shot down without elaborating which country’s aircraft he was referring to.

Trump’s comments came just hours before new tariffs totalling 50 per cent on Indian goods were set to take effect on August 27.

Talking to the press at the White House on Monday, Trump had claimed that he stopped seven wars around the world, including the one between India and Pakistan. He added that of the seven wars he stopped, four were because he used tariffs and trade to negotiate with the parties involved in the conflict.

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 40 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said in Parliament that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has categorically said there was no third-party intervention in bringing about a ceasefire with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. PTI GSP ZH GSP

Tariff diplomacy: claimed use of trade sanctions to compel a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, amid denial. The president claimed he used threatened tariffs and refusal of trade deals as coercive diplomatic leverage to force a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and substantial tariffs on Indian goods were set to take effect; Indian officials maintain the halt in hostilities resulted from direct military talks and deny third party intervention.