Washington DC [US], July 15 (ANI): US President Donald Trump reiterated his claim on Monday (local time) that he stopped the escalation of the recent India-Pakistan conflict after the Pahalgam terror attack.

Trump made these remarks during his meeting with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte.

'We have been very successful in settling wars, India, Pakistan... India, by the way, Pakistan would have been a nuclear war within another week, the way that was going. It was going very badly,' Trump stated.

He pointed to his strategy of using trade as leverage, stating, 'We did that through trade. I said, we are not going to talk to you about trade, unless you get this thing settled, and they did.'

In June, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, 'You know, I did something that people don't talk about, and I don't talk about very much, but we solved a big problem, a nuclear problem potentially with India and with Pakistan.'

'I spoke to Pakistan, I spoke to India, they have really great leaders, but they were going at it, and they could have gone at it nuclear,' he added.

Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for stopping hostilities between India and Pakistan after New Delhi's effective response to Islamabad's aggression following precision strikes on terror infrastructure.

However, India refuted the claims made by the US President, reiterating its policy that India and Pakistan bilaterally address any matter related to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

'As you are aware, we have a long-standing national position that any issues pertaining to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir have to be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally. That stated policy has not changed. As you are aware, the outstanding matter is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian Territory by Pakistan,' the Ministry of External Affairs stated.

The MEA further stated that the 'issue of trade' did not come up between Indian and US leaders since the commencement of 'Operation Sindoor' and the cessation of hostilities.

'From the time OPERATION SINDOOR commenced on 7th May till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on 10th May, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions,' MEA further stated.

India launched Operation Sindoor early on May 7 and hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed. India repelled subsequent Pakistani military aggression and pounded its airbases.

India and Pakistan agreed to a cessation of hostilities following a call made by Pakistan's DGMO to his Indian counterpart. (ANI)