US President Donald Trump has yet again claimed credit for easing tensions between Pakistan and India, boasting that he brokered peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, as he cast himself as a peacemaker.
Speaking at US-Saudi Arabia Investment Forum, the president also reiterated that he “used trade to a large extent” to get the two countries to halt strikes at each other.
“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,” Trump said to applause from the audience.
Speaking on India-Pakistan understanding, Donald Trump said, “Both have very powerful, strong and smart leaders. It all stopped and hopefully it will remain that way…They [India-Pakistan] are actually getting along.”
“Maybe we can even get them together to go out and have a nice dinner. Millions of people could have died from that conflict that started off small and was getting bigger and bigger by the day.”
Trump is in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of his four-day trip to the Gulf region. The US president also applauded the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. “Marco stand up. What a great job you did on that. Thank you. Vice President JD Vance, Marco, the whole group worked with you, but there’s a great, great job, and think they’re actually getting along.”
The US president he would lift sanctions on Syria to offer it a chance for “greatness” after Bashar al-Assad’s fall.
On a state visit to Saudi Arabia primarily aimed at securing billions of dollars of investment, the billionaire president took aim both at the US left and right who he said had intervened in the region in the guise of “nation builders” but “wrecked far more nations than they built”.
Trump renewed his offer for a better US relationship with longtime nemesis Iran, although he warned the nation’s rulers of consequences if ongoing talks with his administration failed.
In his most significant announcement, Trump said he would end sweeping US sanctions on Syria, in place for decades and ramped up dramatically during the iron-fisted rule of Assad, who was overthrown by Islamist-led forces in December.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said in a speech in Riyadh.
“The sanctions were brutal and crippling,” he said. “But now it’s their time to shine.”
Trump will at least “say hello” to Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Riyadh on Wednesday, a US official said.
In announcing the move, Trump said he was listening to the appeals of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmanwho joined the crowd in cheering the announcementas well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
The Trump administration has held four rounds of talks with Iran on reaching a nuclear accord to avoid war.
Trump, who himself pulled out of an earlier nuclear agreement with Tehran in his first term, sharply criticised Iran’s leaders, saying they had “focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad” and “dragged down an entire region with them.”
But he added: “I’m here today not merely to condemn the past chaos of Iran’s leaders, but to offer them a new pathand a much better pathtoward a far better and more hopeful future”.
If the talks fail, however, Trump said he would “have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure”, including using sanctions to curtail all Tehran’s oil exports.
Trump’s speech took on much of the tone of his domestic rhetoric. He lashed out at US rivals and even brought the Saudi crown prince on stage to the sound of the Village People’s “YMCA”, a gay anthem turned Trump campaign song.
But the US president said that he still saw himself as a “peacemaker”. “In the case of Iran, I have never believed in having permanent enemies. I am different than a lot of people think,” Trump said.
Arm deals
President Donald Trump secured a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States on a trip to the Gulf.
The US agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, according to the White House which called it “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.
Trump has sought to strengthen relations with the Saudis to improve regional ties with Israel and act as a bulwark against Iran.
The agreement covers deals with more than a dozen US defense companies in areas including air and missile defense,
air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, the fact sheet said.
The Saudi prince said the deal included investment opportunities worth $600 billion, including deals worth $300 billion that were signed during Trump’s visit. “We will work in the coming months on the second phase to complete deals and raise it to $1 trillion,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest customers for US arms. Reuters reported in April the US was poised to offer the kingdom an arms package worth well over $100 billion. “I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump said during a meeting with the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.
The US and Saudi Arabia had discussed Riyadh’s potential purchase of Lockheed F-35 jets, two sources briefed on discussions told Reuters, referring to a military aircraft that the kingdom is long thought to have been interested in. It was not immediately clear whether those aircraft were covered in the deal announced on Tuesday.
With additional input from Agencies
