Very close to Modi, but put sanctions on India: Trump

LONDON: US President Donald Trump repeated his claim at a presser at Chequers, the UK PM's official country retreat, that his intervention had stopped the brief India-Pakistan conflict earlier this year, a claim refuted umpteen times by India.

Trump said he personally had stopped seven wars since taking office. "Most were not thought to be settleable but we did India, we did Pakistan, two nuclear powers. That was purely for trade. We told them if you want to trade with us, you will have to get along, and they were going at it hot and heavy," he said. He added he felt "let down" by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he could not add the war in Ukraine to that list.

"If the price of oil comes down, Putin will have no choice but to drop out of that war," he said as he and UK PM Keir Starmer vowed to ramp up the pressure on Putin. "When I found out that the European nations were buying oil from Russia, I am very close to India and to the PM of India, I wished him a happy birthday the other day, we have a very good relationship, but I sanctioned them (India). I am willing to do other things, but not when the people I am fighting for are buying oil from Russia. That's not playing fair with the USA," he said.