'Randomly shelling US-India relationship,' says author as Donald Trump repeats India-Pakistan ceasefire claim

US-based author and columnist Sadanand Dhume called out US President Donald Trump over the latter's comments on having brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan recently.

Despite India rejecting US claims of brokering a ceasefire understanding over trade, Trump repeated the same in a speech at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh. 

Taking shots at Trump, Dhume said in his post that the US President is "randomly shelling" the US-India relationship, built by both countries over 25 years.  

"At this point, Trump is randomly shelling a US-India relationship built painstakingly by both countries over 25 years. We’ll have to await satellite images to assess the extent of the damage," Dhume wrote in a post on X. 

What did Donald Trump say about the ceasefire? 

In his Saudi Arabia speech, Trump said that his greatest hope is to be a peacemaker and a unifier. To back up his peacemaker statement, he used the India-Pakistan ceasefire as an example. 

Donald Trump also claimed that his administration asked India and Pakistan to trade goods instead of nuclear missiles. 

“Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan. I used trade to a large extent. I said let's make a deal, let's do some trading. Let's not trade nuclear missiles. Let's trade the things you make so beautifully. And they both have very powerful leaders, strong leaders, and it all stopped. Hopefully it will remain that way,” he said.

He also praised US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Vice President JD Vance for their role in brokering the ceasefire. 

“I am proud of Marco Rubio. Marco stand up, what a great job you did in that. Thank you JD Vance...Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco where they can go out and have a nice dinner together.”

India rejects Trump's claims

In a statement, the Indian government and the Indian Army said that the ceasefire was reached through bilateral talks between the DGMOs of both countries. 

Besides this, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal to mediate in Kashmir and his assertion that trade helped avert nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, stating that the military action under Operation Sindoor was strictly conventional.