Washington [US], October 20 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) has once again claimed that he averted a potential war between India and Pakistan by leveraging the threat of heavy tariffs while asserting that 'seven planes were shot down' during the heightened tensions in May between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Trump said his administration used trade pressure to de-escalate the situation, which he described as being on the brink of a nuclear conflict.

'I've ended, you know, eight wars that we just mentioned. Five of them have been ended because of tariffs. The threat of tariffs, as an example, kept India and Pakistan--two nuclear nations--from going at it,' Trump said.

'They were going at it--seven planes were shot down. That's a lot. And they were going at it. That could have been a nuclear war,' he added.

Trump's comments on the India-Pakistan conflict refer to the escalation in May following India's Operation Sindoor, a series of precision strikes on nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.

The US President also claimed that his direct intervention, including the threat of imposing 200 per cent tariffs, led to a de-escalation.

'I said to India and Pakistan pretty much the same thing: 'Look, if you're going to fight each other, I'm not going to do business with you. We're going to put on a 200 per cent tariff. It'll make it impossible for you to do business,'' he said.

According to the claims made by Trump, both countries quickly backed down. ''No, no, no,' they said. And after 24 hours, I settled the war. I settled it through trade,' he asserted.

Trump had been repeating his claims of playing a key role in helping de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan on the basis that trade and tariffs were instrumental for the US in preventing the conflicts.

India has consistently refuted the claims made by the US President, reiterating its long-standing position that any issues with Pakistan, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, are to be resolved bilaterally between the two countries. (ANI)