PM Modi and Trump held phone call on June 17, during which US President claimed credit for India-Pakistan ceasefire, however, PM Modi “bristled” and denied US role, a report said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi “bristled” when Donald Trump claimed credit for the India-Pakistan ceasefire on the June 17 phone call between the two leaders, according to an American media report, which further claimed that the Indian leader’s “refusal to engage” on the Nobel Peace Prize for the US President likely played a part in soured relations between the two countries.
Relations between India and the US have seen tensions ever since PM Modi clarified in the Parliament in July that “no world leader asked India to stop Operation Sindoor”, refuting Trump’s mediation claims without taking his name. The next day, Trump slapped 25% tariffs on India, and days later, he imposed 25% additional levies on Indian goods as a punishment for Russian oil purchase. However, there’s more than meets the eye, and an American media report has made massive claims on the sour ties between the two leaders and countries.
According to a report in The New York Times published on August 30, Trump spoke to PM Modi on a phone call when the latter was in Canada for the G7 Summit and told him that Pakistan was going to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize – something which he has openly been campaigning for and eyeing for months.
People familiar with the call told The New York Times that Trump was hinting that PM Modi should also support his nomination.
However, the Prime Minister “bristled” and told the US President that America had “nothing to do” with the ceasefire and stressed that the understanding to end military confrontation was reached between the two sides, without a third-party involvement.
Trump brushed off PM Modi’s remarks, but the disagreement and the Indian Prime Minister’s refusal to engage on the Nobel Prize “played an outsize role in the souring relationship between the two leaders”, the NYT reported.
Notably, the two leaders have shared a close relationship since Trump’s first term, during which both attended huge public meetings of each other – Howdy Modi in Taxas and Namaste Trump in Ahmedabad.
Both leaders had been vocal about each other, with PM Modi describing Trump as a “true friend” and the US President calling the Indian leader as “a very good friend”.
However, the two leaders have not spoken since the June 17 phone call, the NYT reported.
Just days after the phone call, Trump raked up the India-Pakistan ceasefire issue again and said that he “won’t get a Nobel Prize for this”.
