“…the Prime Minister of Pakistan (Shehbaz Sharif) would have died if it were not for my involvement,” US President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night (local time), in a remark that appeared to be a misspeak while he was referring to military tensions between India and Pakistan in May 2025.
The comment came as Trump once again claimed that he had “ended eight wars” in his first 10 months in office and portrayed himself as central to preventing a wider conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
“In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars… Cambodia and Thailand… Pakistan and India would have had a nuclear war. 35 million people said the Prime Minister of Pakistan would have died if it were not for my involvement,” Trump said in his address.
#WATCH | Addressing the 2026 State of the Union, United States President Donald Trump says, “… In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars… Pakistan and India would have had a nuclear war. 35 million people said the Prime Minister of Pakistan would have died if it were not for… pic.twitter.com/GnrgJKtjID
— ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2026
Also Read: ‘Pak PM said 35 million would have died’: Trump reiterates claim of ending India-Pakistan war
What Trump appeared to mean in his ‘35 million’ remark
The US President’s phrasing drew attention as it suggested that the Pakistan Prime Minister himself would have died. However, from the context of his speech, Trump appeared to mean that Sharif had told him that 35 million people would have died if the conflict had escalated into a nuclear confrontation.
During the longest-ever State of the Union address, Trump cited what he described as praise from Sharif, saying he had saved millions of lives by stepping in to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan.
India denies US role in ceasefire
India has denied any involvement of the United States in the agreement to cease hostilities with Pakistan. New Delhi has maintained that the request to end military operations had come from the Director General of Military Operations in Pakistan.
Tensions between the two countries escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians. In response, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, describing it as a punitive and targeted campaign to dismantle terror infrastructure across the Line of Control and deeper inside Pakistan.
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