Trump now puts number of downed aircraft in Pak-India conflict at 10

US President Donald Trump has once again spoken about the May 2025 military flare-up between Pakistan and India, saying that 10 aircraft were shot down during the confrontation.

He made the remarks in an interview with Fox Business that aired on Wednesday. During the conversation, the programme’s host was discussing Trump’s “reciprocity policy” on trade and his use of tariffs as leverage in foreign policy when the president interjected.

“And that’s being very nice and gentle. Look, I settled eight wars. Out of the eight wars, at least six were settled because of tariffs,” Trump said.

Explaining his approach, he added: “In other words, I said, ‘if you don’t settle this war, I’m gonna charge you tariffs because I don’t wanna see people getting killed.’ And they said, ‘no, what does this have to do with it?’ I said, ‘you’re gonna be charged.’”

Referring specifically to tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi, Trump claimed the situation could have spiralled further. “Like India and Pakistan would’ve been a nuclear war in my opinion. They were really going at it. Ten planes were shot down. They were going at it,” he said.

The US president also cited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while speaking about his role in defusing the crisis. Trump said the premier had praised him for “saving at least 10 million lives when he got us to stop fighting”.

Reiterating his stance, Trump maintained that trade pressure had been key in achieving a halt to hostilities. “Because, see, they were going to nuclear, in my opinion. Without tariffs, that (ceasefire) wouldn’t have happened,” he asserted.