United States President Donald Trump has once again claimed that he helped defuse a military conflict between India and Pakistan in May last year by threatening both countries with steep trade penalties — this time adding an updated claim that as many as 11 “very expensive” fighter jets were shot down during the hostilities.

“I said, if you (India and Pakistan) fight, I am going to put 200 per cent tariffs on each of your countries. They both wanted to fight. But when it came to money, it’s nothing like money. When it came to losing a lot of money, they said, I guess we don’t want to fight,” the US President said while speaking at the initial meeting of the US-led Gaza Board of Peace.

In his address, Trump said that the confrontation had reached a dangerous phase, with aerial combat underway and multiple aircraft lost. He claimed that as many as 11 fighter jets were shot down during the hostilities, calling them “very expensive jets”.

“That war was raging. Planes were being shot down. 11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets. And I got on the phone with both of them, and I knew them a little bit. I knew Prime Minister Modi very well. I called them and I said, listen, I’m not doing trade deals with you two guys if you don’t settle this up. And all of a sudden, we worked out a deal,” he said.

The President also boasted that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly credited him with saving “25 million lives” by intervening at a critical moment when tensions between the two neighbours were escalating.

“He (Pakistani PM) said in front of our Chief of Staff that President Trump saved 25 million lives when he stopped the war between us and India. That war was raging,” he said.

Trump has made similar assertions in the past, repeatedly portraying economic leverage and personal diplomacy as decisive factors in defusing the standoff between India and Pakistan.

India has categorically dismissed the claims, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rejecting any third-party intervention in bringing the hostilities to a halt, maintaining that the decision was taken at the DGMO level of both the neighbouring nations.