In Saudi, Trump claims credit again for India-Pak ceasefire, proposes dinner idea

US President Donald Trump, who described himself as a peacemaker during an address in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, suggested that India and Pakistan should "have a nice dinner together" to help ease tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Addressing US-Saudi Investment Forum, attended by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump reiterated the claim that his administration had helped broker peace to avert a "potential nuclear war" between India and Pakistan, which he said could have killed millions. Trump added that New Delhi and Islamabad are "actually getting along" following US-led peace talks involving Vice President JD Vance and Secretary Rubio. "I think they're actually getting along. Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco, where they go out and have a nice dinner together. Wouldn't that be nice?," the US President, who is on a three-nation Middle East visit, asked.While India unequivocally rejected any third-party mediation and maintained that the ceasefire understanding with Pakistan was the result of direct discussions, President Trump reiterated his claim of having played a mediating role. "Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan, and I used trade to a large extent to do it. I said, fellas, come on. Let's make a deal. Let's do some trading," Trump said. "Let's not trade nuclear missiles. Let's trade the things that you make so beautifully. And they both have very powerful leaders, very strong leaders, good leaders, smart leaders. And, it all stopped. Hopefully, it'll remain that way, but it all stopped," he added. The US President also said that he was proud of Rubio, Vance and others involved in the peace talks, calling it a "great great job".“We've come a long way and it could be, you know, millions of people could have died from that conflict that started off small and was getting bigger and bigger and bigger by the day,” Trump added. In a surprise development on May 10, President Trump announced that India and Pakistan had reached a 'ceasefire,' bringing an end to the heightened military activity that followed the April 22 Pahalgam attacks. Although both countries confirmed the development shortly after, New Delhi clarified that the talks were held directly at the military level. Trump had also offered to mediate between the neighbours on the Kashmir issue, but India firmly rejected the proposal, reiterating that the matter would be resolved bilaterally.