5 jets were shot down during India-Pak conflict, says US President Trump

In recent statements, United States President Donald Trump has reiterated his assertion that he played a mediating role in the tensions between India and Pakistan during a military confrontation in May. This claim has drawn rebuke from the Indian government, which maintains that no US intervention was involved in resolving the conflict.

At a dinner at the White House with Republican senators on Friday, Trump stated, "You had India, Pakistan, that was going… in fact, planes were being shot out of the air… four or five. But I think five jets were shot down actually… that was getting worse and worse, wasn’t it? These are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other."

His comments referenced a series of military incidents that occurred after India's Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, aimed at targeting terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan-controlled territories in response to a attack near Pahalgam.

Trump continued to assert that his administration facilitated a resolution through trade negotiations, saying, "We said, ‘You guys want to make a trade deal. We’re not making a trade deal if you’re going to be throwing around weapons and maybe nuclear weapons.’" He further claimed a sense of pride in his administration's achievements, stating, "Something I am very proud of, we stopped a lot of wars, a lot of wars. And these were serious wars."

However, New Delhi has consistently stated that direct dialogue between Indian and Pakistani military officials led to the cessation of hostilities on May 10, without any mediation from the United States.

Since May 10, Trump has repeated his claims of having assisted in reducing tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations over 20 times across various appearances. His assertions lack specific details regarding the claimed shootdown of jets; he did not clarify which country lost aircraft, leading to questions about the accuracy of his statements.

On May 31, during discussions at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan addressed the operations conducted during Operation Sindoor. General Chauhan acknowledged losses within the Indian Air Force (IAF) but emphasised the need to understand the tactical errors that led to these losses.

He noted, “What is important is not the jet being down, but why they were being downed,” and explained how India adjusted its tactics to effectively penetrate into Pakistan's airspace and target military installations. General Chauhan confirmed that the IAF executed a large-scale operation on May 10, focusing on deep strikes against Pakistani air bases, including the strategic Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi.

In response to queries regarding the reported number of downed Indian aircraft, General Chauhan firmly refuted claims from Pakistan that indicated a higher number of losses. He explicitly stated, “Absolutely incorrect.”

The discussions on jet losses highlighted by General Chauhan represented the first official acknowledgement of aircraft being engaged during the recent conflict. On May 11, after the two nations agreed on a truce, Air Marshal A K Bharti, the Director General of Air Operations, refrained from confirming specific aircraft losses, citing the ongoing military situation.

While acknowledging that losses occur in combat, he stated that the IAF achieved its operational objectives and that all pilots returned safely. Bharti remarked that the Pakistan Air Force faced significant losses during India's retaliatory strikes, with “a few” aircraft destroyed alongside damage to their air facilities.

Trump’s latest statements coincided with the US government's designation of The Resistance Front, a group linked to terrorism, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that the group, also labelled as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, is now under US sanctions. This decision was positively received by India, highlighting the ongoing international dimensions related to security in the region.