US President Donald Trump touted ending the conflict between India and Pakistan as among the accomplishments of the first year of his second term in the White House, saying the two countries “were going to go nuclear" in his opinion, and that he saved millions of lives by stopping the war.
Trump said he ended “eight unendable wars in 10 months".
“These were unendable wars - Cambodia and Thailand fighting for years, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda. Pakistan and India, they were really going at it. Eight planes shot down. They were going to go nuclear in my opinion,” Trump said at a lengthy news conference Tuesday on the one-year anniversary of his second term in office.
Addressing a packed White House press briefing room, Trump said the prime minister of Pakistan, who visited him in Washington last year, said that “'President Trump saved 10 million people, and maybe much more than that’. They're both nuclear countries.”
Later in the press conference, which lasted 105 minutes, Trump again claimed credit for ending the war between India and Pakistan.
Responding to a question on how him winning the Nobel Peace Prize would have improved the lives of average everyday Americans, Trump said he saved probably tens of millions of lives by ending eight wars around the world.
“If you add up the numbers, just… if you look at any one of those wars, you're talking about millions of people. You multiply it eight times. But when you look at India and Pakistan, that could have been 10,15, 20 million people. It could have been more than that. So I saved millions of people. So that to me is the big thing,” Trump said.
The White House released an exhaustive compilation of achievements in the first year of Trump 2.0. Titled ‘365 WINS IN 365 DAYS: President Trump’s Return Marks New Era of Success, Prosperity’, the statement says, “One year ago today, President Donald J. Trump returned to office with a resounding mandate to restore prosperity, secure the border, rebuild American strength, and put the American people first. In just 365 days, President Trump has delivered truly transformative results with the most accomplished first year of any presidential term in modern history.
“From negative net migration for the first time in 50 years to the largest homicide drop on record, trillions in reshored investments, peace deals ending multiple wars, record energy production, and massive bureaucracy cuts, President Trump has put America First with urgency — and he’s just getting started,” it said.
Under a section titled ‘Reasserting American Leadership on the World Stage’, the statement from the White House notes “Brokered peace between India and Pakistan” as among Trump’s accomplishments in the first year since January 20, 2025, when he took office for a second term.
Trump has now claimed about 90 times that he stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan, an assertion he has been making repeatedly, on various platforms in the US and around the world, 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.
Trump also said that he should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the wars, including between Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Should have gotten the Nobel Prize for each war, but I don't say that. I saved millions and millions of people,” Trump said, adding that leaders of every single country where he ended a conflict nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
He also lashed out at Norway, home of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that selects the Peace Prize recipient, for not giving him the Nobel, saying Oslo has "tremendous control" over who gets the annual honour.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that Norway doesn't control the shots, ok. It's in Norway. Norway controls the shots. They'll say ‘we have nothing to do with it’. It's a joke. They've lost such prestige,” Trump said.
“Well, I lost a lot of respect for Norway, and I believe very strongly that Norway controls the Nobel Prize. But you have to understand, I settled eight wars,” Trump said, adding that leaders of those countries sent in “strong recommendations” calling for him to be given the prize.
“I settled eight wars. No president's probably ever settled one war. I don't know, think of it. I did eight. The reason I do it is because it's easy for me to do, and I didn't do it for a Nobel Prize. I did it because I'm saving a lot of lives.
I'm trying to settle the final one. I'm trying to do Russia-Ukraine… But I feel that Norway has tremendous control over who gets the Nobel Prize, despite what they say," Trump said.
He added that he has “such respect” for Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who last week presented her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Trump in the White House.
Describing her as a “good woman”, Trump noted that she had said she didn’t deserve the Nobel Prize, which should have gone to Trump who “deserves” it for ending eight wars.
